Sensex succumbs to late sell-off, ends lower

Market traded sideways and ended a touch lower today, hit by selling by foreign investors towards the close of the session amid a subdued trend in Europe.

The Sensex succumbed to the pressure, before ending down 10.11 points, or 0.04 per cent, at 26,633.13.

The gauge had gained 47.79 points in the previous session.

NSE Nifty also closed in negative territory with a minuscule fall of 1.75 points, or 0.02 per cent, at 8,190.50.

Sentiment soured after services PMI contracted for the second straight month and the all-crucial GST meet remained deadlocked over dual control, compensation and high-sea taxes.

The upcoming corporate results season and the approaching Union Budget kept investors on their toes.

Asia firmed up following overnight gains on the Wall Street driven by optimism about the US economy.

Demonetisation took its toll on the Indian services sector in December as the business activity contracted for the second consecutive month amid steeper reduction in incoming new orders, a monthly survey showed today.

The Nikkei India Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which tracks services sector companies on a monthly basis, stood at 46.8 in December, little changed from November’s 46.7, indicating a further solid contraction in output.

The major losers on the 30-share Sensex were RIL 1.99 per cent, ICICI Bank 1.26 per cent and Cipla 1.05 per cent.

However, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto, Wipro, Tata Motors, Hero Motocorp and Asian Paints ended in green, rising by up to 3.47 per cent.

Banking dropped, along with oil and gas, PSU and metal.

The broader markets showed a mixed trend with small-cap jumping 0.47 per cent and the mid-cap declining 0.09 per cent.

Hong Kong shares declined by 0.07 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei rose 2.51 per cent and Shanghai gained 0.73 per cent.

In Europe, Frankfurt’s DAX fell 0.17 per cent, Paris CAC 0.01 per cent and London’s FTSE was down 0.03 per cent as investors awaited flash inflation figures for the euro zone.

Meanwhile, foreign funds sold shares worth Rs 500.49 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.