BackSensex closes 38 points lower, Nifty below 8,050
The Sensex after rallying almost 210 points in early trade ended down 37.67 points, or 0.14 %, at 26,552.92
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Mumbai: The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex slipped into the red on Wednesday after a day’s breather, as it dropped over 37 points to 26,552.92—its seventh fall in last eight sessions—as traders booked profits despite a firming trend in Asia.
Sentiment was hit by muted earnings by some blue-chips so far and sustained capital outflows by foreign funds, brokers said. Caution prevailed as participants decided to keep their portfolios low ahead of the outcome of the ongoing Bihar assembly elections. The results will start coming in on 8 November.
Meanwhile, India’s services sector activity touched an eight-month high in October, driven by a significant rise in new business orders even as growth in manufacturing output eased, a Nikkei survey said.
Late selling was seen in pharma, IT, banking, power and capital goods that wiped off early gains and pulled down the key indices.
Taking cues from Asian markets that tracked overnight gains in the US, the BSE 30-share index after rallying almost 210 points in early trade ended down 37.67 points, or 0.14 %, at 26,552.92. The index had risen 31.44 points in Tuesday’s choppy session on value-buying in recently-battered stocks.
The 50-issue NSE Nifty after crossing the crucial 8,100-mark in early trade succumbed to profit-booking and fell to 8,040.20 at the close, a loss of 20.50 points, or 0.25 %. ICICI Bank Ltd took the biggest knock as it slumped 2.06 %. GAIL India Ltd fell 1.92 % after the company on Tuesday reported a 66.19 % drop in quarterly profit.
Other prominent losers included Sun Pharma, RIL, Lupin, NTPC, Cipla and Infosys. In the gainers pack, Tata Motors stood out, as it surged 6.02 % amid reports that sales of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) in the US rose in October. M&M, Bajaj Auto, Coal India and Hero MotoCorp ended in the positive terrain, limiting the fall.
Nestle jumped 0.21 % after the company said samples of newly manufactured instant noddles Maggi have been cleared by the government-approved labs and will start retail sales of the popular snack this month. Sector-wise, the BSE healthcare index fell the most by losing 0.79 %, followed by IT, banking, power and capital goods.
Among the 30-Sensex stocks, 19 ended lower. The mid-cap index, however, continued its upward journey and ended 0.19 % higher while small-cap shed 0.33 %. Foreign investors sold shares worth ₹ 449.84 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data.
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