Sensex, Nifty Erase Early Gains

(RTTNews) - Indian shares ended a choppy session modestly lower on Monday, even as the rupee strengthened for the fifth consecutive session to hit a seven-week high against the dollar amid sustained foreign fund inflows and on optimism over passage of the GST Bill in Parliament.

Local stocks opened on a firmer note as weak U.S. GDP data lowered the odds of a Fed rate hike in September and results of EU-wide stress tests by the European Banking Authority (EBA) showed the resilience of the euro area banking system improved since the last tests in 2014.

The markets couldn't sustain their early gains in the wake of mixed manufacturing data of China, Eurozone and the U.K. Closer home, India's manufacturing activity expanded at the fastest pace in four months in July, survey results from Markit showed.

The benchmark BSE Sensex jumped as much as 0.8 percent earlier in the day before reversing direction to end the session down 48.74 points or 0.17 percent at 28,003.12. The broader NSE Nifty index closed marginally lower at 8,636.55.

ICICI Bank fell almost 5 percent and Larsen & Toubro slumped 4 percent after posting disappointing first-quarter results. Lupin, Adani Ports, Bank of Baroda and BHEL lost 1-3 percent.

Borosil Glass Works soared 7 percent after announcing an acquisition. Quess Corp jumped nearly 16 percent on good Q1 results.