The benchmark BSE Sensex on Tuesday ended 240 points lower as investor sentiment weakened after the India carried out air strikes on a terrorist camp in Pakistan.
Weak cues from global equities and selling pressure on financials and realty stocks too weighed on market mood here.
After cracking nearly 500 points, the 30-share Sensex pared some losses but ended 239.67 points, or 0.66%, lower at 35,973.71. It hit a low of 35,714.16 and a high of 36,172.52.
The gauge surged 342 points in Monday’s trade.
The 50-share Nifty also fell 44.80 points, or 0.41%, to 10,835.30 after hovering between 10,729.30 and 10,888.75.
Losses were more pronounced in banking, realty and PSU counters.
“Indian indices traded lower mainly due to two factors — first, the indications of weakness from all major Asian markets since their opening; and second, the strike carried out by the Indian Air Force against terrorist camps located inside Pakistan,” said Joseph Thomas, head research, Emkay Wealth Management.
While the former may be considered reflective of the evolving broader global perspective, the latter may have limited or transient impact on the market direction, he said, adding that markets may remain quite volatile in the coming days, especially, in the light of the fast approaching general elections.
The Indian Air Force struck Jaish-e-Mohammed’s (JeM) biggest camp in Pakistan early Tuesday in a major “preemptive” action, killing a large number of terrorists and trainers of the Pak-based terror group preparing to carry out suicide attacks in India.
The move came 12 days after JeM carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.
Meanwhile, the rupee which depreciated 38 paise to 71.35 against the U.S. dollar in early trade, recovered partially to quote at 71.06 in late afternoon trade at the forex market, and was still trading 9 paise lower over its previous close of 70.97.
Among Sensex constituents, HCL Tech suffered the most by diving 2.26%, followed by HDFC shedding 2.10%.
Other big losers were ICICI Bank down 2.08%, Infosys 1.75%, SBI 1.44%, Vedanta 1.20%, Hero MotoCorp 1.15%, RIL 1.01% and L&T 1%.
Also, Bharti Airtel fell 0.88%, IndusInd Bank 0.79%, HDFC Bank 0.72%, ITC 0.65%, Kotak Bank 0.44%, ONGC 0.37%, Maruti Suzuki 0.36%, PowerGrid 0.36%, Bajaj Finance 0.27%, HUL 0.19%, M&M 0.15%, Tata Steel 0.14% and Sun Pharma 0.03%.
However, Bajaj Auto and Asian Paint managed to end in the green.
Shares of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation fell by 0.74% after NSE said Britannia Industries will replace the oil marketing company in the Nifty50 index from March 29.
Shares of Britannia Industries, on the other hand, gained 0.95% to ₹3,073.80 on the BSE.
In sectoral terms, the BSE realty index dropped 1.63%, bankex (0.75%), capital goods (0.69%), FMCG (0.47%), consumer durables (0.43%), infrastructure (0.38%), PSU (0.20%), IT (0.16%) and healthcare (0.13%).
However, auto index topped the gainers list by rising 0.32%, followed by oil & gas 0.18%, power 0.10%, metal 0.07%, teck 0.04% and power 0.02%.
The broader markets were in a somewhat mixed shape with mid-cap index falling 0.27%, while small-cap index rising 0.26%.
Fresh round of selling by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) also dampened market sentiment here, brokers said.
DIIs sold shares worth ₹1,764.4 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net of ₹2,134.35 crore on Monday, provisional data showed.
Elsewhere in Asia, Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.67%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.61%, Japan’s Nikkei shed 0.37%, Korea’s Kospi was down 0.32% and Singapore Straits Times slipped 0.32%.
In European markets, Frankfurt’s DAX was down 0.49%, and Paris CAC 40 dropped 0.42% in their early session. London’s FTSE declined 0.82%.
The U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, ended 0.23% higher on Monday.
