MUMBAI : The selling pressure continued for the second consecutive session Monday with the Sensex ending below 28000 level amid volatility. Fears of unlikely rate cut in medium term after the announcement of new RBI governor may have caused correction.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 91.46 points at 27985.54 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 37.75 points to 8629.15.

The broader markets also caught in bear grip with the BSE Midcap falling 0.4 percent on weak breadth. About 1462 shares declined against 1253 advancing shares on the exchange.

The Nifty futures & options contracts for the August month will expire on Thursday, so the volatility is warranted and the lack of triggers in near term will also keep the markets choppy, say experts.

The market believes that the prospect for a rate cut in the near term is unlikely as the priority of the new RBI governor will be to contain inflation, Vinod Nair of Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services says, adding the lack of triggers will be keeping the market to trade in a linear way.

Finally the speculation over appointment of RBI head ended last Saturday after the government announced Urjit Patel as new governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Current governor Raghuram Rajan’s three-year term will end on September 4.

Global markets were volatile as investors turned cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole meeting on Friday that may indicate about the timing of a further interest rate hike. European stocks were marginally lower, at the time of writing this article. Asia ended mixed with the Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rising 0.3 percent each whereas China’s Shanghai was down 0.75 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on profit booking and analysts doubted upcoming producer talks would rein in oversupply. Brent crude futures plunged 3.01 percent at USD 49.35 a barrel and US oil futures slipped 2.7 percent to USD 47.21 a barrel at 16 hours IST.

On home turf, technology, auto and select banks shares dragged the market whereas FMCG, infra and HDFC group stocks outperformed.

NTPC lost 2 percent despite strong operational performance in June ended quarter. Profit grew by 4.1 percent and revenue increased 11.5 percent on yearly basis while operating profit margin expanded by 670 basis points.

Lupin shed 2 percent. The drug major has received approval from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) for Acotiamide tablets that are used for treatment of indigestion. It will shortly start promoting the product in India.

ITC, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma and Maruti Suzuki were down 1-2 percent whereas ITC, HUL and BHEL gained 1-2 percent.