In lacklustre trading, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today fell by over 70 points with investors adopting a cautious approach ahead of the RBI monetary policy tomorrow.
Market leader Reliance Industries fell over 1 per cent to extend losses for the second day.
After moving in a narrow range, the 30-share index dropped 70.31 points to close at 16,740.50.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also lost 26.15 points to end the day at 4,970.90.
Trading volume declined as investors refrained from enlarging their positions ahead of the Reserve Bank’s quarterly monetary policy tomorrow. Fears that the apex bank may signal interest rate hike had a negative impact on the banking and other interest rate-linked sectors like realty.
Blue-chip Reliance Industries fell 1.56 per cent to close at Rs 2,015.45.
On Friday, RIL nosedived by 4 per cent after its partner Hardy Oil said it would stop exploring a well for gas in the D9 block off India’s east coast.
In the 30-BSE index-linked stocks, 16 closed with losses while 14 ended with gains.
A better overseas trend saved the market from any major fall. Stocks in FMCG, healthcare, IT and teck sector gained.
Some of the pharma and IT counters attracted good investment-cum-defensive buying.
A steep rise in Infosys Technologies, Tata Consultancy and Wipro also saved the company from plummeting.
Stocks of ITC Ltd rose by 1.79 per cent to Rs 264.50, after Credit Suisse raised its rating to “outperform”.
Asian indices ended up between 0.06 per cent and 1.03 per cent while European stocks too exhibited a firm trend in their early trade.
However, during the day the realty sector index suffered the most, losing 4.59 per cent to 4,315.39 followed by consumer durable index by 2.38 per cent to 3,552.28. Bank index fell by 1.64 per cent to 10,064.02, oil and gas index by 1.51 per cent to 9,855.75, metal index by 1.15 per cent to 15,243.17 and power index by 1.03 per cent to 1.03 per cent to 3,105.36.
