The Bombay Stock Exchange turned distinctly weak for the third straight day as a sluggish global trend continued to cast a shadow on local bourses, sending the benchmark Sensex down by 219 points to close below the 17000-mark.
The BSE barometer closed at 16789.74, a loss of 219.43 points over its previous close. In straight three-day decline, the index slumped by a total of 536.72 points, or 3.1 per cent. Interest rate-related shares were at the receiving end on expectation of tightening of monetary policy by the apex bank as inflation rose to 1.21 per cent for the week ended October 10 from 0.92 per cent in the previous week. Realty, capital goods, consumer durable and banking stocks suffered the most while select FMCG and IT counters attracted good buying support.
The BSE realty index fell the most losing 4.59 per cent to 4524.28 after Jaiprakash Associates and DLF registered heavy losses. Asian markets ended in the red on Thursday due to weakness on Wall Street on Wednesday amid robust growth in China’s GDP data.
Hong Kong’s Heng Sang fell by 0.48 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.64 per cent. China’s Shanghai Composite closed down by 0.62 per cent, while Kospi dipped by 1.42 per cent.
The 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange dropped by 75 points to close below the 5000-level at 4988.60.
Rupee declines further
The rupee declined further by 26 paise against the dollar at 46.74/75 on Thursday. A strong dollar overseas coupled with weak domestic bourses pulled the rupee down.
The rupee closed at 46.49 on Wednesday. The domestic currency commenced lower at 46.55/56.
It later moved in a wide range of 46.52 and 46.82 before concluding at 46.74/75.
