Profit booking, negative global cues subdue equities

Mumbai, Jan 17: Despite foreign funds’ inflow and an appreciation in rupee, the Indian equities markets fell on Tuesday, as heavy selling pressure was witnessed in oil and gas, metal and energy stocks. Besides, profit booking and negative global indices ahead of the highly-anticipated speech by British Prime Minister Theresa May on plans for Brexit (Britain’s exit from the European Union), also suppressed the key domestic indices. In addition, investors were spooked by the cut in India’s growth estimate for the current fiscal year by one per cent to 6.6 per cent by the Intertiol Monetary Fund (IMF) after the market hours on Monday. The key indices, which opened on a positive note supported by consensus over the rollout of GST (Goods and Services Tax), ceded their gains and traded on a flat note throughout the day’s trade.

The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the tiol Stock Exchange (NSE) fell by 14.80 points or 0.18 per cent, to 8,398 points. The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 27,331.82 points, closed at 27,235.66 points — down 52.51 points or 0.19 per cent from the previous close at 27,238.06 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 27,381.43 points and a low of 27,179.19 points during the intra-day trade.

The BSE market breadth was margilly tilted in favour of the bears — with 1,395 declines and 1,351 advances. In terms of broader markets, the small-cap index outperformed the benchmark index. The BSE small-cap index was up 0.33 per cent, whereas the BSE mid-cap index remained unchanged. On Monday, the benchmark indices closed on a flat-to-positive note on expectations of healthy third-quarter (Q3) results.

The NSE Nifty rose by 12.45 points or 0.15 per cent, to 8,412.80 points, while the BSE Sensex was up 50.11 points or 0.18 per cent. “Markets ended lower on Tuesday after a positive opening,” Deepak Jasani, Head - Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS. “Major Asian markets have ended on a mixed note, while most European indices traded lower.” According to Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, Nifty closed on a negative note as banking and metal stocks witnessed profit booking.

“Today’s downside can be attributed to the uncertainty over Brexit, even though IT stocks reversed losses,” Desai pointed out. However, the Indian rupee strengthened by 16 paise to 67.96 against a US dollar from its previous close of 68.10 to a greenback.

“The Indian rupee made headways against the US dollar. Brexit had made the US dollar weaker, which is why the domestic currency got stronger,” Desai added. In terms of investments, provisiol data with exchanges showed that the foreign institutiol investors (FIIs) purchased stocks worth Rs 142.21 crore, while the domestic institutiol investors (DIIs) divested scrip worth Rs 607.23 crore.

Sector-wise, the S&P BSE oil and gas index plunged by 175.37 points, followed by the metal index, which receded by 171.89 points and the energy index, which edged down by 65.17 points. On the other hand, the S&P BSE FMCG index surged by 85.46 points, the IT index rose by 31.11 points, and the consumer durables index edged up by 17.84 points.

Major Sensex gainers on Tuesday were: NTPC, up 3.08 per cent at Rs 175.65; Asian Paints, up 2.72 per cent at Rs 960.15; Axis Bank, up 1.98 per cent at Rs 486.35; Hindustan Unilever (HUL), up 1.63 per cent at Rs 840.55; and Hero MotoCorp, up 1.30 per cent at Rs 3,131.65.

Major Sensex losers were: Reliance Industries, down 3.31 per cent at Rs 1,041.30; Coal India, down 2.14 per cent at Rs 307; Adani Ports, down 1.77 per cent at Rs 294.55; ONGC, down 1.74 per cent at Rs 194.90; and HDFC, down 1.02 per cent at Rs 1,243.05. (IANS)