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| Edited By: |Source: PTI |Updated: Mar 16, 2018, 03:12 AM IST
MUMBAI: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex extended losses for the third day in succession today, closing lower by 118 points amid anticipation of poor earnings by corporations for the third quarter of the fiscal.
Brokers said investors seemed unwilling to make fresh commitments as they expected a dismal performance by corporations in the next earning season.
Analysts, however, said the market is expected to get a direction from the next earning season, which starts on January 13 with IT bellwether Infosys Tech announcing its earnings.
Brokers said profit booking continued ahead of the long Christmas and New Year holidays in the overseas markets, leading to losses across all counters except banking.
The Sensex settled at 9,568.72, a fall of 118.03 points, or 1.22%, from its previous close. In three days of sustained selling, the barometer has lost a hefty 531.19 points from a psychologically important level of over 10,000 points. The 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also fell by 51.80 points, or 1.74%, to 2,916.85.
Realty stocks were battered for the second consecutive day. But Bankex, another interest-rate-sensitive counter, snapped the two-day slide with SBI and ICICI Bank posting gains. While ICICI Bank, the country's biggest private-sector lender, was the biggest gainer among Sensex stocks at 3.27%, SBI notched up 1.77%.
The BSE Realty Index was the biggest loser among all indices at 4.91%. On the other hand, Bankex rose 1.6%.
Meanwhile, Asian bourses showed a mixed trend, with major benchmark indices Nikkei, Shanghai Composite, and Kospi ending down about 2.4% to 1.4% while Straits Times and Taiwan index held steady. European markets too were sluggish in early trade.
Among the index-based shares, Tata Motors dropped by 8.69%, TCS by 4.47%, Wipro (4.30%), ACC (4.14%), M&M (4.07%), Rel Com (4.07%), Satyam Computer (3.88%), Bharti Airtel (3.08%), ITC (3.04%), and Sterlite Ind (2.71%).
The market breadth remained negative as 1,504 counters closed with losses while 913 finished with gains on the BSE. The trading volume also remained sluggish and fell further to Rs3,189.50 crore from Rs3,378.03 crore on Tuesday. Satyam Computer remained the top traded share with the highest turnover of Rs510.82 crore. The others were Reliance Capital (Rs148.07 crore), RIL (Rs143.47 crore), DLF (Rs141.92 crore) and EDU Comp (Rs138.64 crore).
The BSE-100 index declined by another 51.54 points or 1.04% to 4,925.05 from 4,976.59 previously.
