The Friday effect spread into the new week with the Hang Sang down 2 per cent, the Jakarta Composite down 2.7 per cent and the Taiwan Weighted down 1.5 per cent. All of the other Asian markets were trading lower.

Banking stocks continued their slide, ahead of the RBI's Monetary Policy on Tuesday. Banking stocks that were trading lower were Punjab National Bank, Bank of India and Bank of Baroda. Private sector banking stocks were also badly hit with Yes Bank dropping a huge 3.33 per cent, while ICICI Bank fell 2.5 per cent in trade.

Idea Cellular, which is slated to declare results later today was also down in trade by almost 2 per cent.

India's largest FMCG company, Hindustan Unilever was also marginally lower ahead of its results today. Analysts are likely to closely watch margins and volume growth at the company.

Opto Circuits was one stock that surged in today's trade after reports that Goldman Sachs is likely to acquire a 26 per cent stake in the company.

Glenmark Pharma reacted positively to its numbers which were better than expected. Mid cap stocks were having a bad day in trade with Voltas, Siemens, HDIL and Adani all seeing deep cuts of more than 3 per cent.

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