Sensex tanked 184 points on Wednesday.
Disappointing corporate earnings weighed on equities for the second straight session on Wednesday, sending benchmark Sensex tumbling 184 points to a two-week closing low of 28,155, while hawkish comments from US Fed chair Janet Yellen heightened capital outflow fears. Auto, realty and pharma counters took a big hit.
Profit- booking by retail investors dragged small-cap and mid-cap indices lower by 1.52% and 1.16%, respectively. On the global front, concerns of capital outflows from emerging economies, including India, intensified after Yellen said the Fed will probably need to raise interest rates at its upcoming meet in March. After opening lower, the BSE Sensex bounced back briefly to hit a high of 28,382.32 on rebound in select stocks. The gauge finally settled 183.75 points or 0.65% lower at 28,155.56, its lowest closing since February 1 when it had ended at 28,141.64. It had shed 12.31 points in the previous session.
The NSE Nifty ended 67.60 points or 0.77% down at 8,724.70. Intra-day, it moved between 8,712.85 and 8,807.90. "Markets traded with losses as worries heightened over capital outflows from emerging economies, including India, after Yellen spoke in support of an interest rate hike next month," said Karthikraj Lakshmanan, Senior Fund Manager Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 6.45 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Tata Motors was the worst performer on the Sensex, plummeting 10.32% to Rs 436.55 after the company reported a steep 96.22% decline in consolidated net profit on Tuesday for the December quarter. Sun Pharma too lost 4.25% to Rs 622.50 on sustained selling after the company posted a 4.72% decline in consolidated net profit for the third quarter of 2016-17.
Other Asian markets ended higher, tracking another record closing at the US stock markets. Hong Kong's Hang Seng led the pack by rising 1.23%, while Japan's Nikkei rose 1%. Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.15%. Europe too was higher in early trading, with London's FTSE climbing 0.4% and Paris 0.3% and Frankfurt gaining.
Of the 30-share Sensex pack, 18 scrips ended lower while the remaining 12 firmed up. Besides Tata Motors and Sun Pharma, losers included Tata Steel (2.57%), Adani Ports (2.09%), Hero MotoCorp (1.99%), ICICI Bank (1.49%), Maruti (1.32%), Dr Reddy's (1.27%), NTPC (1.08%) and Bharti Airtel (0.99%). However, ITC rose by 0.96%, followed by TCS (0.53%), HDFC Bank (0.49%), Bajaj Auto (0.38%), Asian Paints (0.34%) and Power Grid (0.32%).
Among BSE sectoral indices, Realty fell 3.53%, Industrials 3.10%, Auto 3.03%, Healthcare 1.90%, Consumer Durables 1.61%, Metal 1.35%, Power 1.30%, Telecom 1.15%, Capital Goods 1.12% and Oil and Gas 1.05% FMCG was the sole gainer, rising 0.08%. Market breadth remained negative as 2,147 stocks ended lower, 688 closed higher while 150 ruled steady. Total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3,412.57 crore, higher than Rs 2,694.12 crore registered during the previous trading session.
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