Stocks spiralled lower for the third straight session Wednesday as wary investors pared their portfolios even as the rupee staged a recovery and global equities shrugged off the US-China trade tensions.
The BSE benchmark Sensex tumbled 169 points to end at a near two-month low of 37,121.22, while the broader NSE Nifty dropped 44.55 points to 11,234.35.
The 30-share Sensex has now lost about 970 points in three days, largely due to rupee woes, high crude oil prices, unabated foreign fund outflows and escalating trade tensions between the US and China.
Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated 49 paise intra-day against the dollar to 72.49.
Globally, Asian and European markets rose as investors wagered on a less-than-expected impact of the US-China trade conflict.
Stocks saw a positive start as the Sensex touched a high of 37,530.63 intra-day in tune with the rupee recovering from its record low.
However, the index turned weak in late-afternoon trade and closed lower by 169.45 points, or 0.45%, at 37,121.22. This is its lowest closing since July 26 when it had finished at 36,984.64.
The NSE Nifty dropped 44.55 points, or 0.39%, to 11,234.35. Intra-day, it shuttled between 11,332.05 and 11,210.90.
There were no signs of change in trading preference of foreign portfolio investors who net sold shares worth ₹1,143.73 crore Tuesday. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) picked up equities worth a net ₹264.66 crore, according to provisional data.
Markets will remain closed on Thursday on account of ‘Muharram’.
“Despite favourable global cues and recovery in rupee, the domestic market continued to witness selling pressure due to higher oil price and yield. Additionally, flight of capital from domestic market in expectation of pickup in US economic growth and Fed rate hike impacted the sentiment.”
“Market is likely to remain volatile considering higher oil price, widening CAD and upcoming RBI policy meet,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
IndusInd Bank was the top loser in the Sensex pack, sinking 3.03%, followed by Maruti Suzuki at 2.30%.
Other losers included HDFC Bank 1.58%, Yes Bank 1.44%, HDFC Ltd 1.35%, Adani Ports 1.22, Bharti Airtel 1.03%, HUL 0.97%, ITC Ltd 0.97%, SBI 0.95%, RIL 0.57%, NTPC 0.35%, PowerGrid 0.25%, Asian Paints 0.14% and Vedanta 0.04%.
In contrast, Coal India rose 2.60%, ONGC 1.90%, Tata Steel 1.31%, Hero Motocorp 0.99%, Sun Pharma 0.78%, ICICI Bank 0.67% and Bajaj Auto 0.56%.
Sector-wise, the BSE FMCG index emerged as the worst performer by sliding 1.09%, followed by finance 1.01%, realty 0.96%, consumer durables 0.80%, healthcare 0.59%, power 0.52%, bankex 0.51% and auto 0.42%.
On the other hand, metal rose by 1.25%, oil and gas 0.98%, PSU 0.41%, IT 0.15% and teck 0.07%.
In the broader markets, the BSE small-cap index tripped 0.98% while the mid-cap gauge dropped 0.72%.
Shares of asset management companies (AMC) came under selling pressure and lost up to 11.28% after markets regulator Sebi decided to slash the charges levied by mutual funds from investors.
HDFC AMC plunged 8.55% and Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management slumped 11.28%.
In the Asian region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 1.29%, Shanghai Composite Index spurted 1.14%, while Japan’s Nikkei gained 1.08%.
European stocks too were trading higher in late morning session. Paris CAC 40 was up 0.35% while Frankfurt’s DAX climbed 0.22%. London’s FTSE, however, shed 0.20%.
US stocks were back in the recovery mode on Tuesday as investors viewed the latest escalation of the US-China trade war as less consequential than feared.
