The BSE Sensex dropped over 200 points to 37,373.08 on Thursday on heavy selling in metal, auto, banking, capital and realty stocks amid sustained capital outflows by foreign funds after the RBI hiked repo rate for the second time in two months.
The repo rate, at which the central bank lends to other banks, now stands at 6.5%.
Moreover, fall in Asian stocks on renewed US-China trade war concerns influenced the sentiment, brokers said.
The 30-share index dropped 248.42 points, or 0.66%, to 37,273.20. The gauge had lost 84.96 points in Wednesday’s session.
Similarly, the NSE Nifty fell 72.80 points, or 0.64% to 11,273.40.
Sectoral indices led by metal, auto, banking, capital goods and realty, falling up to 1.30%.
Major losers were Vedanta, Tata Steel, Yes Bank, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Hero Motocorp, M&M, HDFC, RIL, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, SBI, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, Adani Ports, NTPC, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank, losing up to 2.64%.
Meanwhile, Sun Pharma, PowerGrid, Coal India, HUL, IndusInd Bank, ONGC and Infosys rose up to 1.42%.
On a net basis, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth ₹95.94 crore yesterday and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth ₹ 562.33 crore, provisional data showed.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.36% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.54% in early trade. China’s Shanghai Composite index too was down 0.33%.
U.S. stocks closed mostly lower after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged but signalled another imminent rate increase. Fresh worries over US-China trade friction too dampened sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.32% lower in yesterday’s trade.
