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| Edited By: |Source: PTI |Updated: Mar 19, 2018, 03:45 AM IST
Erasing its initial gains, the benchmark Sensex on Wednesday once again succumbed to profit-taking and fell by nearly 80 points to end at over one-week low level on selling in consumer durables, banking and metal counters.
After reclaiming the 21,000 mark in opening trades, the bluechip index hit an intra-day high of 21,004.54 but failed to sustain the momentum as investors started booking profits.
Persistent foreign capital inflows as well as confidence given by the Finance Minister P Chidambaram that the country's current account deficit will be contained below USD 60 billion in current financial year helped markets rise in early trade.
However, the Sensex declined afterwards to 20,861.42 before finishing at 20,894.94, showing a loss of 79.85 points or 0.38 % from its Tuesday close. This is the lowest close since 20,570.28 on October 28.
On Sunday, the Sensex hit record intra-day high of 21,321.53 and ended at all-time closing high of 21,239.36.
Similarly, the NSE 50-share Nifty dropped by 38.00 points, or 0.61 %, to end at 6,215.15. Also, the SX40 index of MCX-SX, closed at 12,416.31, down 77.79 points.
After consumer durables, banking stocks suffered the most led by heavyweight SBI which tumbled by 3.40 % following its decision to hike lending rates by 0.20 %. Other lenders like ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank also fell.
Other major Sensex constituents that ended in the red today include RIL, HUL, Bharti, Tata Motors and Tata Steel.
However, IT shares like TCS and Infosys firmed up on account of stronger than expected results from Cognizant and a weak rupee that fell below 62-level against the US dollar.
However, mid-cap and small-cap shares fared better as retail investors were seen buying these scrips, traders said.
"All major events like Q2 results and RBI monetary policy are almost over and so there is lack of concrete trigger to fuel the rally further. Hence, we can expect some consolidation..." said Nidhi Saraswat, Senior Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio Ltd.
Meanwhile, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their buying spree by investing net Rs 162.53 crore on Tuesday as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
In the global markets, Asian stocks today ended narrowly mixed. Key indices in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea declined by 0.01-0.82 % while indices in Japan and Taiwan moved up in 0.24-0.79% range.
Data yesterday showed that a US services indicator unexpectedly accelerated in October, fuelling speculation that the strength in the US economy could give room to the Federal Reserve to scale back its monthly bond purchase program soon.
European stocks were trading higher in their early trade following good earnings from Alstom SA to ING Groep NV Key indices in France, Germany and UK moved up by 0.07 % to 0.83 %.
Moving back to the local market, 20 scrips out of the 30-share Sensex pack ended lower.
Besides SBI, major losers were Sesa Sterlite (2.50 %), Jindal Steel (2.01 %), Hindalco (1.87 %), HDFC (1.54 %), Tata Steel (1.51 %), ICICI Bank (1.42 %), BHEL (1.30 %), HUL (1.26 %), HDFC Bank (1.23 %), Bharti Airtel (1.17 %), RIL (1.14 %), Tata Motors (1.08 %), M&M (0.96 %) and Bajaj Auto (0.84 %).
On the other hand, major gainers included NT% (3.50 %), followed by TCS (2.43 %), Sun Pharma (1.74 %), Infosys (1.25 %) and Cipla (0.94%).
Among the sectoral indices, S&P BSE-CD dropped by 2.19 %, followed by Bankex (1.87 %), Realty (1.80 %), Metal (1.31 %), Oil&Gas (0.87 %), FMCG (0.69 %) and Auto (0.64 %).
However, S&P BSE-IT rose by 1.39 %, followed by Power (1.23 %) and Teck (1 %).
The market breadth remained positive as 1,312 shares ended with gains and 1,143 finished with losses. The total turnover dropped to Rs 1,882.43 crore from Rs 2,224.16 crore on Tuesday.
