The BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty finished in the red on Monday. Trading was sluggish through the day.

The Sensex finished 12 points down at 18,438 while Nifty was down 10 points at 5,543.

Among the sectoral indices, IT, Capital Goods, Bankex, Metal, TECk and PSU were in negative territory. Consumer Durables, FMCG, Health Care, Power, Oil & Gas, Auto and Realty were up by over 1 per cent.

The top gainers included Airtel (+3%), BHEL (+2.79%) and Cipla (2.51%). L&T (-1.72%), HDFC (-1.69%) and TCS (-1.32%) were the major laggards.

The most active stocks among the Sensex-30 were SBI, L&T, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors and RIL.

The index had lost over 590 points in the last three sessions.

Corporate results, particularly from Infosys on April 12, will set the trend for the later part of the week. Analysts are not betting big on earnings. Most brokerages expect the quarterly numbers to be lacklustre, especially auto makers.

Brokers said emergence of buying by funds at existing lower levels and covering up of short positions amid a mixed trend in the Asian region mainly influenced the trading sentiments.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.28 per cent lower in previous session on Friday due to worse- than-expected jobs report.

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