The Indian equity indices fell for the fourth straight day on Monday, weighed down by metal and pharmaceutical sectors. As the impasse between Russia and Ukraine continued to depress risk sentiment, investors became more wary.

The benchmark BSE Sensex down 149 points, or 0.26 percent, to 57,684 points, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 70 points, or 0.40 percent, to 17,207 points. Throughout the session, both indices fluctuated between gains and losses before settling in the red. Mid- and small-cap stocks ended the day in the red, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index down 1.24 percent and small-cap stocks falling 2.73 percent.

The National Stock Exchange's 15 sector indices all ended the day in the red. Nifty Metal and Nifty Pharma, which fell 2.07 percent and 1.35 percent, respectively, lagged the index. The highest Nifty loss was Hindalco, which fell 3.38 percent to Rs. 511.70. Among the laggards were UPL, Divi's Lab, Adani Ports, and Sun Pharma.

Also, ahead of a Rs. 18,000 crore share buyback, Tata Consultancy Services fell 1.96 percent. Wipro, Infosys, Shree Cement, PowerGrid, and HDFC Bank, on the other hand, were among the gainers. Sun Pharma, TCS, ITC, L&T, UltraTech Cement, Tech Mahindra, Titan, Reliance Industries, and Tata Steel suffered the greatest losses on the 30-share BSE platform, with their shares falling as high as 2.15 percent.

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