Sensex drops below 35,000 mark ahead of RBI policy outcome

Stocks of state-run oil companies were under selling pressure as the government reduced fuel prices.

October 05, 2018 10:59 am | Updated 11:40 am IST - Mumbai

06/05/2015 MUMBAI: A traffic signal in the foreground of the Bombay Stock Exchange's on Dalal Street seems to reflect the mood of the stock markets in Mumbai on April 6, 2015 the BSE Sensex was down by 722 points.   Photo: Paul Noronha

06/05/2015 MUMBAI: A traffic signal in the foreground of the Bombay Stock Exchange's on Dalal Street seems to reflect the mood of the stock markets in Mumbai on April 6, 2015 the BSE Sensex was down by 722 points. Photo: Paul Noronha

The BSE Sensex fell over 300 points on Friday, extending its losing run for the third day, ahead of the RBI’s bi-monthly policy meet outcome amid weak global cues.

The 30-share index after cracking the 35,000-mark by falling over 335 points to touch a low of 34,833.81, pared some losses to quote 194.44 points, or 0.55% lower at 34,974.72.

It lost 1,356.98 points in the previous two sessions on rupee woes and boiling crude oil prices. Sectoral indices led by oil and gas, PSU, infrastructure, auto and banking stocks cracked up to 10.27%.

Stocks of state-run oil companies were under selling pressure as the government on Thursday announced a ₹2.50 per litre cut in petrol and diesel prices after it reduced excise duty by ₹1.50 a litre and asked oil companies to absorb another ₹1.

Shares of BPCL, HPCL and IOC were trading sharply lower by up to 20.50% on nervous selling by investors. The NSE Nifty also dropped by 90.40 points, or 0.85%, to 10,508.85.

Brokers said investors offloaded their positions, tracking a selloff in global markets as U.S. Treasury surged to multi-year highs on robust economic data and comments from the Federal Reserve, sparking fears of accelerating inflation.

Besides, caution ahead of RBI’s monetary policy announcement which expected to hike interest rates by 25 basis points, too, dented sentiments, they added.

Shares of ONGC, Bajaj auto, HUL, ITC, M&M, RIL, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, Adani Ports, HDFC Bank, NTPC, Vedanta, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel and Axis Bank tanked up to 11.27%.

On the other hand, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, Infosys, Yes Bank, PowerGrid, TCS and Kotak Bank bucked market trend, and were trading in the green, rising up to 2%.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net of ₹2,760.63 crore on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net ₹1,823.59 crore, provisional data showed.

Among other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, Strait Times and Taiwan indices fell up to 1.73%.

The U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average too ended lower on Thursday.

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