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| Edited By: |Source: PTI |Updated: Mar 19, 2018, 05:17 AM IST
After rising to new peaks, markets today had a forgettable session with Sensex and Nifty slipping about 54 points and 21 points respectively on profit-taking in IT and oil&gas shares, while caution prevailed after Supreme Court reserved its order on coal blocks allocation matter. Traders were also cautious ahead of the domestic data on consumer prices and industrial production due this week.
Rupee was last trading lower at 60.6 against the US dollar. Weakness in some of the heavyweight counters like ICICI Bank, Infosys, L&T, ONGC, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto and RIL mainly weighed on the benchmark indices. Gains in Cipla, Coal India, GAIL, Tata Motors, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra and Tata Power cushioned the fall to some extent. Overall market breadth, however, was positive on persistent buying by retail investors in second-tier stocks.
The BSE 30-share barometer, which resumed stable and later dropped by almost 143 points in late afternoon deals to a low of 27,177.09, settled at 27,265.32 -- a fall of 54.53 points or 0.20 per cent. Yesterday, it had flared up by 293.15 points, or 1.08 per cent, to hit new highs.
The wide-based 50-issue CNX Nifty of the NSE also fell back today by 20.95 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 8,152.95. Selling was seen in Realty, IT, Oil&Gas and Capital Goods counters while consumer Durable, FMCG, Power, Pharma and Auto shares attracted good buying support.
"Today's performance was mainly due to profit taking by the participants, after yesterday's buoyant session. And they were keeping cautious bias also because of Supreme Court's upcoming decision on coal block allocations," said Jayant Manglik, President-retail distribution, Religare Securities. In Asia, Japan and South Korea were closed for holiday. China closed almost stable. European stocks, however, were trading weak in trades.
The CAC (France) was down by 0.12 per cent, the DAX (Germany) by 0.13 per cent and the FTSE (UK) by 0.18 per cent. In oil markets, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for October delivery rose 48 cents to USD 93.14 while Brent crude for October was off 20 cents at USD 100.00.
Some of the tyre companies rallied for the second day in a row on steep fall in rubber prices. Apollo Tyres, Ceat Tyres, Dunlop India, Krypton, MRF and TVS Shrichkra notched up gains between 0.57 per cent and 5.87 per cent. Heavy electrical equipment giant ABB India Ltd gained over 3 per cent after the company's overseas parent firm ABB today announced share buyback programme. Commercial vehicle firm, Ashok Leyland closed up nearly 5.5 per cent as it bagged orders worth nearly Rs 1,500 crore. Jignesh Chaudhary, Head of Research, Veracity Broking Services said: "Yesterday, we witnessed local markets touching new landmark with the help of FIIs.
But today, local equities were weak as investors were in a profit booking mode." Foreign Portfolio Investors had picked up shares worth a net Rs 1,162.98 crores yesterday, as per provisional data. Sixteen out of 30 Sensex-based shares closed with losses while 14 finished with gains.
Major losers include Bajaj Auto 1.53 per cent, Hero MotoCorp 1.51 per cent, ONGC 1.31 per cent, ICICI Bank 1.31 per cent, Infosys 1.15 per cent, L&T 1.15 per cent and BHEL 1.09 per cent. Gainers were led by Cipla that rose 2.09 per cent, Coal India 1.66 per cent, Tata Motors 1.32 per cent and ITC 1.16 per cent. Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, Realty dipped 1.11 per cent, IT by 0.82 per cent, Oil&Gas by 0.49 per cent and Capital Goods by 0.43 per cent.
On the other hand, Consumer Durables firmed up by 1.75 per cent, FMCG by 0.86 per cent and Power by 0.59 per cent. Total market breadth remained strong as 1,669 stocks closed in the green while 1,336 finished in the red and 95 held unchanged. Market turnover was down at Rs 3,426.79 crore from Rs 3,602.14 crore yesterday.
