Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty fell for the second consecutive session on Thursday as investors fretted over plunging rupee and rising crude oil prices, while August futures and options (F&O) expiry further added to market volatility.
The BSE benchmark Sensex slipped 33 points, or 0.08%, to 38,690. It shuttled between 38,819.06 and 38,581.83. The NSE Nifty declined 15 points, or 0.13%, to 11,677. Intra-day, the 50-share index moved between 11,698.80 and 11,639.70.
Investors offloaded their long bets in F&O segment instead of carrying them forward to the next series for September, adding to volatility.
The Indian rupee plunged to a new life-time low of 70.85 against the dollar (intra-day) today.
Further, global oil prices going past USD 77 a barrel on a fall in US crude inventories and expected disruptions to supply from Iran and Venezuela dented investor sentiments on domestic bourses.
However, investors will be keenly awaiting the June-quarter GDP data to be announced tomorrow, which will be one of the factors to decide the market course.
“Profit booking extended today as weaker rupee, rise in oil prices and F&O expiry put pressure on domestic markets. Rupee hit fresh low of 70.8 as US dollar was gaining strength against emerging market currencies. Weak global markets also added pain to domestic market sentiments. Q1 GDP is the key data to be watchful tomorrow, consensus expects GDP to grow by 7.6% which may bring some respite to markets,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd, said.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth ₹1,415.87 crore on a net basis, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities to the tune of ₹1,114.36 crore yesterday, provisional data showed.
The BSE Sensex had retreated from a life-time high of 38,989.65, falling 173.70 points in the previous session.
IndusInd Bank emerged as the worst performer in the Sensex pack, plunging 1.62%, while Maruti Suzuki lost 1.62%.
Other laggards included RIL 1.57%, Asian Paint 1.15%, Yes Bank 1.12%, Axis Bank 1.07%, Kotak Bank 0.89%, HDFC Ltd 0.85%, Tata Motors 0.75%, HDFC Bank 0.54%, Coal India 0.52%, Hero MotoCorp 0.52%, SBI 0.48%, Adani Ports 0.35% and L&T 0.14%.
Among the gainers, Sun Pharma topped by rising 3.03% as the weak rupee tempted buyers to accumulate shares of pharma exporters.
Other gainers were Tata Steel 2.40%, ITC Ltd 2.08%, Bharti Airtel 2.07%, NTPC 1.93%, PowerGrid 1.16%, ICICI Bank 1.10%, Vedanta 0.83%, HUL 0.70%, TCS 0.66%, Infosys 0.51%, Bajaj Auto 0.47%, Wipro 0.35%, M&M 0.33% and ONGC 0.25%.
Sector-wise, the BSE energy index suffered the most by falling 1.06%, followed by finance 0.41%, bankex 0.38%, auto 0.33%, consumer durables 0.26%, capital goods 0.09% and oil & gas 0.04%.
While utilities moved up 1.43%, telecom 1.27%, FMCG 1.11%, healthcare 0.85%, metal 0.78%, power 0.71%, infrastructure 0.65%, realty 0.44%, PSU 0.39%, teck 0.37% and IT 0.32%.
The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the mid-cap index rising 0.43% and the small-cap gauge gained 0.27%.
Shares of Reliance Infrastructure surged 5.54% after the company yesterday said it has completed the ₹18,800-crore deal for sale of its Mumbai energy business to Adani Transmission. Reliance Power too gained 5.93%.
Brent crude was trading 0.36% higher at USD 77.74 a barrel while WTI oil was up 0.30% at USD 69.72 in Asian trade.
In Asian trade, stocks gave up earlier gains and fell as concerns persist over the development of the Sino-US trade spat. Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.14% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 1.01%, while Japan’s Nikkei ending 0.09% higher.
European shares too were trading weak in late morning deals as investors continued to monitor global trade talks and corporate earnings. Key indices such as Frankfurt’s DAX fell 1% and Paris CAC declined 0.44%. London’s FTSE was also quoting 0.58% lower.
