In a volatile trading session, at the starting day of the year, the benchmark indices settled the day lower as banking stocks fell on worries their profitability would be hit after most banks slashed lending rates. The BSE Sensex ended the day at 26,595, down 31 points, while the broader Nifty50 settled at 8,179, down 6 points.  

However, Broader Market outshined the headline indices with BSE Smallcap index rising 1.2 percent, while BSE Midcap added 0.8 percent. The overall market health remained strong. On BSE, 1,919 shares advanced and 812 shares declined and a total of 93 shares remained unchanged. 

Meanwhile, the State Bank of India announced a vertical interest rate cut in several years on Sunday, by reducing its marginal cost of funds based lending rate by 90 bps across all maturities.