Profit booking, weak data depress equity indices

Mumbai, June 1: Profit booking as well as persistent outflow of foreign funds and a weak macro-economic indicator depressed the key Indian equity indices on Friday.

Market observers pointed out that uncertainty over the Reserve Bank’s next move during the upcoming monetary policy review also hit the investor sentiments.

However, a decline in crude oil prices and strengthened rupee arrested the fall.

Index-wise, the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 10,696.20 points, down 39.95 points or 0.37 per cent from the previous close of 10,736.15 points.

Similarly, the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which had opened at 35,373.98 points, closed at 35,227.26 points — down 95.12 points or 0.27 per cent — from its previous session’s close of 35,322.38 points.

On an intra-day basis, the Sensex touched a high of 35,438.22 and a low of 35,177.35 points.

In the broader markets, the S&P BSE mid-cap index declined by 1.01 per cent and the S&P BSE small-cap index ended lower by 1.57 per cent from it previous close. The BSE market breadth was bearish with 2,024 declines against 604 advances.

“Markets corrected on Friday after a positive morning session. Sentiments turned weak after the Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell from 51.6 in April to 51.2 in May,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.

Further, on the currency front, the Indian rupee strengthened by 35 paise against the US dollar to 67.06, from its previous close at 67.41 per greenback.

Investment-wise, provisional data with exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrips worth Rs 202.80 crore, while the domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth Rs 337.97 crore.

Sector-wise, the S&P BSE auto index rose 163.71 points, followed by the energy index which gained 7.9 points and the telecom index ended 5.23 points higher.

On the other hand, the S&P BSE banking index fell by 226.40 points, the capital goods index was down by 126.73 points and the IT index ended 126.67 points lower.

The major gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto, up 5.13 per cent at Rs 2,893.25; Maruti Suzuki, up 3.01 per cent at Rs 8,792.15; Bharti Airtel, up 2.73 per cent at Rs 384; Tata Motors (DVR), up 2.27 per cent at Rs 173.60; and Hero MotoCorp, up 2.25 per cent at Rs 3,627 per share.

The top losers were Tata Steel, down 2.62 per cent at Rs 560.35; ONGC, down 2.48 per cent at Rs 172.95; Mahindra and Mahindra, down 2.38 per cent at Rs 901.55; Hindustan Unilever, down 1.96 per cent at Rs 1,582; and IndusInd Bank, down1.95 per cent at Rs 1,910.10 per share.(IANS)