New Delhi: Amid persistent foreign fund outflows and mixed global trends, two equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty extended their losses for the third straight session pulled down by HDFC twins on Wednesday.
The 30-share BSE Sensex ended the day trading at 58,339, down 237 points (0.4 per cent), while the NSE Nifty ended 55 points (0.31 per cent) down at 17,476.
HDFC, HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Tata Motors, PowerGrid, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Bank, Titan, Cipla and Eicher Motors were the top losers in the Nifty index, falling between 1 per cent and 2 per cent. Percent
ONGC, Apollo Hospitals, Sun Pharma, ITC, UPL, JSW Steel and Shree Cement rose in the range of 1-3 per cent.
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Meanwhile, in the broader market, the BSE Midcap index fell 0.21 per cent, but the BSE Smallcap index rose 0.27 per cent.
Nine out of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended in the red. Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services underperformed the index, falling 0.87 per cent. Nifty Auto fell up to 0.84 per cent. The Nifty Private Bank index was the worst hit, down 1 per cent.
On the upside, the Nifty Metal index was the biggest gainer of 0.57 per cent.
According to Rupak Dey, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP Securities, “Nifty remained volatile throughout the session largely with negative bias.
In the previous trade, the Sensex closed 388 points lower at 58,576, while the Nifty closed 144 points lower at 17,530.
Meanwhile, according to official data released on Tuesday, retail inflation rose to a 17-month high of 6.95 per cent in March, and remained above the Reserve Bank’s upper tolerance level, while factory output rose only 1.7 per cent in February.
In Asia, markets mostly closed higher, with Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo ending in the green, while Shanghai was lower.
Shares in the US closed with a slight decline on Tuesday.
International oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.56 per cent to $105.23 a barrel.
Foreign institutional investors were selling shares worth a net Rs 3,128.39 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
Stock markets will remain closed on Friday on account of Mahavir Jayanti and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti as well as Good Friday on Thursday.