Shares of retail companies on Thursday witnessed heavy sell-off by investors on the bourses, reacting to the government’s decision to put on hold its proposed opening up of multi-brand retail sector for foreign investors.
Companies like Pantaloon Retail, Vishal Retail and Trent tumbled on Thursday and an overall weakness in the market further added to the weak investor sentiments on these counters.
Kishore Biyani-led Future group’s Pantaloon Retail (India) settled nearly 6 per cent lower at Rs. 186.45 on the BSE.
Shares of Vishal Retail plummeted 6.48 per cent to close at Rs. 18.05, while Koutons Retail dropped 4.02 per cent to settle at Rs. 19.10.
Among others, Tata Group’s retail venture Trent shed 1.66 per cent, Provogue (India) fell by 1.56 per cent and Shoppers’ Stop ended 1.26 per cent lower.
After being paralysed for over two weeks, the winter session of Parliament got to do some business on Wednesday after the government announced that the controversial decision on FDI in retail was being put on the backburner till a consensus is evolved among various stakeholders.
Marketmen said that the government’s decision to put FDI in multi-brand retail on hold has dampened the investors’ confidence and the bearish market sentiments also weighed on these stocks.
