Benchmarks Sensex and Nifty ended lower after seesaw movements on Monday because of selloffs in financial and IT counters as surging coronavirus cases in India and around the world tempered economic recovery hopes.

Axis Bank was the day’s top loser following S&P lowering its ratings last week.

After plunging 509 points during the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex pared some losses to end 209.75 points, or 0.60 per cent, down at 34961.52.

Likewise, the NSE Nifty settled 70.60 points, or 0.68 per cent, lower at 10312.40.

Asian stocks, too, closed with hefty losses, while European shares opened slightly lower.

On the Sensex chart, Axis Bank was the top loser, dropping around 5 per cent, followed by Tech Mahindra, SBI, L&T, IndusInd Bank, Infosys and NTPC.

On the other hand, HDFC Bank, HUL, Kotak Bank, Bharti Airtel and ITC were among the gainers.

Shares of Axis Bank on Monday fell almost 5 per cent after S&P Global Ratings lowered the ratings of the private sector lender because of increased economic risks for banks in the country.

On the BSE, the stock dropped 5.21 per cent to Rs 402.90 during intra-day trades. Later, it settled at Rs 404.75, down 4.78 per cent. On the NSE, it tanked 4.69 per cent to end at Rs 404.90.

In terms of volume, 19.23 lakh shares were traded on the BSE and 3.63 crore on the NSE.

“We lowered our ratings on Axis to reflect our expectation that heightened economic risks facing India’s banking system will affect the bank’s asset quality and financial performance,” S&P said on Friday.

The international credit rating agency had downgraded the bank to BB+ with a stable outlook from its earlier rating of BBB- with a negative outlook.