After Tuesday's crash, the benchmark Sensex on Wednesday languished in the red for most of the session and closed 79 points down at three-week low on losses in bluechips, including ICICI Bank and Hindalco, amid continued capital outflows.
The NSE Nifty barometer ended with a loss of 25.25 points at 8,102.10 -- also its weakest close since December 17, 2014. Despite positive closing in Asian indices and rebound in European shares, domestic markets buckled under selling by foreign funds as global crude oil prices continued to fall.
TCS, Tata Motors, ITC, ICICI Bank and Hindalco were among key Sensex constituents that fell between 1-3% today. However, some buying was seen in battered oil&gas stocks. Heavyweight RIL and ONGC gained about 2% each after falling 4-5% on Tuesday.
Concerns over global growth following slide in crude oil prices below US $50 per barrel level and possible exit of Greece from Euro region kept investors jittery.
The BSE 30-share Sensex resumed stable and moved erratically in a range of 275 points before concluding at 26,908.82 -- a fall of 78.64 points or 0.29%. Yesterday, it had plunged by 854.86 points, or 3.07%, its biggest fall in five and a half years.
"Global markets remained volatile today amidst lack of cues and further depth in oil prices kept market players on the edge of their seats," said Bonanza Portfolio, Associate Fund Manager, Hiren Dhakan. Wednesday is the third straight session of decline with the Sensex having lost 980 points in this period.
The 50-issue CNX Nifty of the NSE also moved down further by 25.25 points, or 0.31%, to 8,102.10. It had logged day's low of 8,065.45 but recovered then some ground. Provisional data from stock exchanges showed that foreigners sold shares worth a net Rs 1,570.76 crore yesterday.
Elsewhere in Asia, key indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea firmed up by 0.01% to 0.83%. European stocks were also trading higher as key indices in France, Germany and the UK moved up by 0.61% to 0.82% on speculation that ECB will unveil more stimulus measures soon.
Seventeen scrips out of the 30-share Sensex pack ended lower while 13 others finished higher. Major Sensex losers included Hindalco (2.80%), ICICI Bank (2.63%), Gail India (2.61%), BHEL (2.47%), ITC (1.96%), Tata Steel (1.70%) and Tata Power (1.63%). Tata Motors (1.42%), Hero MotoCorp (1.45%) and Coal India (1.03%) also saw moderate losses.
However, HUL rose by 3.48%, followed by Reliance Industries 2.31%, NTPC 2.19%, ONGC 1.70%, Maruti Suzuki 1.25% and M&M 1.25% among the day's Sensex gainers.
In S&P BSE sectoral indices, Metal fell by 1.42%, followed by Bankex 0.65% and IT 0.49% while Oil & Gas rose by 1.39%. Total market breadth remained negative as 1,506 stocks ended with losses while 1,339 finished with gains and 107 ruled steady. Total turnover rose to Rs 3,210.35 crore from Rs 3,139.15 crore on Tuesday.
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