Mumbai, Feb 5 : The market witnessed a sharp fall during the final hours of Monday's trading, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

At close, Sensex was down 354.21 points or 0.49 per cent at 71,731.42, while and Nifty was down 82.10 points or 0.38 per cent at 21,771.70.

The robust US job data for January indicated that the expected rate cuts from the US Fed in the coming year may be less imminent. This is reflected in the recent sharp climb in US bond yields to above 4 per cent levels, which prompted investors to book profit from the post Interim Budget rally amid elevated valuations, Nair said.

However, the current drop in crude prices provides support, he said.

Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said Nifty traded sideways for the most part of the session. However, last-hour selling led the index to close with a loss of 82 points.

The volatility index rose by 6 per cent to 15.62. Sector-wise, it was a mixed bag with buying seen in oil & gas, pharma, and auto. The 3QFY24 corporate earnings have been in line so far with 33 Nifty companies reporting a PAT growth of 21 per cent YoY (until February 1), he said.

On the positive side, India's Service PMI rose to six-month high at 61.8. The RBI policy meeting will start on Tuesday and it is expected to maintain the status quo in line with the US Fed.

Overall, markets are consolidating at higher levels. With two key events behind, markets are taking cues from the ongoing results which are leading to a lot more stock-specific action that is likely to continue, he added.

/IANS