Extending its fall for the fifth straight session, the benchmark BSE Sensex closed down by 71 points at 26,724.01 due to selling in auto, FMCG and pharma stocks amid continued capital outflows and weakness in rupee.
The 30-share index opened lower at 26,724.01 on sustained selling in line with a weak trend in global markets. The barometer later recovered to touch the day's high of 26,871.91 on the back of gains in few bluechips but succumbed to selling at every rise. The index finally settled down by 71.31, or 0.27 per cent, at 26,710.13 points. The gauge lost over 1,120.97 points in the five sessions.
The broad-based Nifty of the NSE slipped below 8,000-mark before closing down by 37.80 points, or 0.46 per cent down at 8,029.80. It shuttled between 7,961.35 and 8,082 in day trade. Brokers said persistent selling by foreign funds and retail investors on concerns like widening trade deficit and free-fall of the rupee, which slumped to a fresh 13-month low of 63.87 (intra-day), dampened sentiments. A series of negative factors such disappointing IIP data, higher trade deficit, global growth concerns after crude fell to fresh multi-year lows and the Russian crisis triggered selling by participants on the bourses, they said.
Weak trends in European markets ahead of the outcome of a crucial US Federal Reserve meeting dampened the trading sentiments here, brokers added. Foreign institutional investors have sold shares worth Rs 1,247.24 crore yesterday.
Losses in shares of Cipla, Hero MotoCorp, ITC Ltd, Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, Tata Power, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, M&M, L&T, BHEL, NTPC, HDFC Bank and Hind Unilever, dragged down the key index lower. Bucking the trend, stocks of RIL, GAIL, Sesa Sterlite, ONGC, SBI and ICICI Bank ended in the positive zone. Selling pressure in small and midcap stocks also pulled down Small-cap index by 1.06 per cent and Mid-cap index by 0.60 per cent.
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