new Delhi: Major domestic equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, fell for the second straight session on Wednesday, dragged mainly by financial and IT stocks.
The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 566 points (0.94 per cent) lower at 59,610, while the broader NSE Nifty ended 150 points (0.83 per cent) lower at 17,808.
HDFC Bank, HDFC and HDFC Life were the biggest laggars on the 50-pack index as they fell between 2.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent.
Besides, HCL Tech, Infosys, Tech M, Shree Cement, TCS, Divis Labs, Kotak Bank, Axis Bank, and M&M were other losers, falling 1 per cent each.
On the flipside, Coal India, Tata Steel, NTPC, UPL, PowerGrid, BPCL and Bharti Airtel. These stocks added in the range of 1 per cent to 3 per cent.
Shares of Ruchi Soya Industries continued to remain under selling pressure, and fell as much as 19 per cent to Rs 706 in Wednesday’s intra-day trade, ahead of the list of allotted shares via follow-on-public offering on BSE. Gone. The edible oil company’s stock has lost 28 per cent in the past one week, compared to a 2.8 per cent gain in the S&P BSE Sensex.
Midcap and smallcap stocks ended on a weak note as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.59 per cent and Smallcap 0.12 per cent.
Of the 15 sector gauges compiled by NSE, 12 ended in negative territory. Nifty Financial Services and Nifty IT rallied 1.59 per cent and 1.63 per cent, respectively, in the index.
According to Mitul Shah, Head of Research, Reliance Securities, “Domestic stocks moved lower in tandem with US markets, driven by investor expectations of a tighter interest rate hike by the Fed.”
On Tuesday, the BSE Sensex lost 435 points to close at 60,176. Similarly, NSE Nifty lost 96 points to closed at 17,957.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.93 per cent to $107.6 per barrel.
Elsewhere in Asian markets, shares in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul closed lower, while Shanghai was in the green. In the US too, the index closed at a lower level on Tuesday.
According to stock exchange data, foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth Rs 374.89 crore on Tuesday.