New Delhi: In a choppy trade, markets closed in the negative zone on Monday due to profit booking.

The BSE Sensex closed 97.92 points or 0.25 percent lower at 38,756.63. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty fell 24.40 points or 0.21 percent to 11,440.05.

Bharti Airtel was the top loser in Sensex pack, falling upto 3.46 percent. Moody’s Investors Service on Friday revised Bharti Airtel’s credit outlook rating to stable from negative on account of easing of competition in the telecom sector, increase in 4G customer base and mobile services rates from December. It also considered options given to the company to make payment of pending adjusted gross revenue in instalments while revising the outlook.

Other losers were Bajaj Finance, Powergrid, SBI, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC, HUL, LT, and Nestle, falling upto 2.91 percent.

On the other hand, major gainers in the Sensex pack were HCL Tech, TCS, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Titan, Bajaj Auto, NTPC, ONGC, M&M, and Ultrachem, rising upto 10.08 percent.

The rupee pared some of its early gains and settled 5 paise higher at 73.48 (provisional) against the US dollar.

In the previous session, Sensex ended 14.23 points or 0.04 percent higher at 38,854.55, while the broader Nifty rose 15.20 points or 0.13 percent to close at 11,464.45.

Exchange data showed that foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 1,175.81 crore on a net basis on Friday.

Asian shares firmed on renewed hopes for a coronavirus vaccine after AstraZeneca resumed its phase three trial though sentiment was still cautious. Japan`s Nikkei added 0.65 per cent while Hong Kong`s Hang Seng rose by 0.56 per cent and South Korea`s Kospi ticked up by 1.3 per cent.