Last of sell-off results in BSE Sensex and Nifty dropping more than 1%
Markets today ended red for the fifth day in a row with both BSE Sensex and Nifty dropping over 1%. The last hour selling led to a fresh low closing for 2018. All sectors ended on the negative note. The S&P BSE Sensex dropped 429.58 points while the Nifty lost 109.60 points at the end of day’s trading.
“Key indices in India opened the session on a strong footing on firm global cues. Global stocks gained as worries about a potential trade war waned in the aftermath of US President Donald Trump's tariff announcement on steel and aluminum. However, Indian bourses were unable to sustain gains as weakness persisted. Investors continued to trade with caution and sell on every rise. Despite earlier gains both the benchmark Sensex and the Nifty finally closed the day with losses”, said Karthikraj Lakshmanan, Senior Fund Manager-Equities at BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.
The BSE Sensex dropped 1.27% to close at 33,317.20 while the Nifty concluded at 10,249.25 losing 1.06% at the end of the trading session. The indices marked a loss for a fifth consecutive day after ICICI Bank managing director and chief executive Chanda Kochhar and her Axis Bank counterpart Shikha Sharma have been summoned by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, in the PNB fraud case.
SunPharma, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Mahindra and Mahindra, Maruti, UPL Limited, Bharti Airtel, Lupin, Axis Bank, Ambuja Cement and Hindalco were among top loser shedding more than 2%. Among top gainers, Indus India Bank, BPCL, Tata Steel and Ultra tech Cement performed well. The BSE Midcap lost 0.84% to conclude at 16,167.8 and the BSE Smallcap ended at 17,652.32 to conclude the day’s session 1.32% lower.
“Barring the media index, all other sectoral indices on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) trade in the red, with a majority of them losing over 1% for the day.”, added Karthikraj Lakshmanan. The S&P BSE Realty sector witnessed a fall of 2.21% while the S&P BSE Telecom fell by 1.68%.
Among the global markets, all markets were trading/ closed green. In the precious metal section, gold gained 0.27% to close at Rs 30,433 while the crude oil closed 0.37% higher at 4,092.
At the end of the day, the yield on 10-year benchmark Government securities softened to close at 7.7747.