Mumbai, Oct 12 (PTI) Benchmark stock index Sensex fell nearly 548 points to settle below 72,000 on Monday as selling in banking, FMCG and IT shares weighed on the market amid rate-hike concerns, a spike in crude prices and unabated foreign fund outflows.
Erasing opening gains, the 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 547.65 points, or 0.76 per cent, to settle at 71,924.68. During the day, it slumped 796.23 points, or 1 per cent, to 71,676.10.
The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 157.10 points, or 0.70 per cent, to end at 22,363.35.
Among the 30 Sensex firms, ITC was the biggest loser, dropping by 3.23 per cent. Tech Mahindra (-3.1 per cent), Hindustan Unilever (-2.1 per cent), Larsen & Toubro (-1.87 per cent), State Bank of India (-1.78 per cent) and Tata Consultancy Services (-1.67 per cent) were among the major laggards.
Bharat Electronics, Mahindra & Mahindra, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HCL Tech were among the major winners.
Analysts said global and domestic macroeconomic concerns continued to weigh on sentiment.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, jumped 1.14 per cent to USD 105.8 per barrel. Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 3,568.90 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
“Indian markets failed to hold on to early gains as sentiment weakened amid a rise in the 10-year bond yield to a three-year high and continued FII outflows driven by external uncertainties,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
Banking stocks led the decline after the RBI raised the daily CRR maintenance requirement to absorb surplus liquidity, Nair added.
Retail inflation rose to 5.54 per cent in September, the highest under the new consumer price index series, mainly due to costlier food items, according to official data released after market hours.
“Amid continued stickiness in commodity prices and rising global yields, we expect the RBI to continue to remain firmly on a path of rate hikes. We see another 2 hikes from the RBI this financial year,” Garima Kapoor, Deputy Head of Research and Economist at Elara Capital.
The broader market advanced, with the BSE SmallCap Select index jumping by 1.65 per cent and MidCap Select index gaining 0.66 per cent.
“Indian equities surrendered their early gains on Monday, ending lower as initial optimism over a sharp recovery in the rupee gave way to concerns over rising bond yields, persistent foreign investor outflows and elevated crude oil prices,” Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, an online trading and wealth tech firm, said.
The rupee soared nearly 1 per cent or 93 paise to close at 95.78 (provisional) against the US dollar, driven by RBI measures to bolstered the local unit.
The RBI on Saturday tightened rules governing forex derivatives trades, aiming to curtail speculative bets against the rupee and asked banks to create a 20 per cent reserve for dollar purchases of over USD 2 million.
Among BSE sectoral indices, Hospitals was down 2.04 per cent, FMCG 1.34 per cent, PSU Bank 1.05 per cent, IT 0.68 per cent, Telecommunication 0.63 per cent and Energy 0.53 per cent.
Housing Finance jumped 1.86 per cent, Capital Goods 1.31 per cent, Realty 0.80 per cent, Auto 0.75 per cent, Consumer Discretionary 0.32 per cent and MidSmall Private Banks Quality Tilt 0.29 per cent.
“Concerns that the RBI’s latest measures to support the rupee could tighten banking-system liquidity weighed on financials, while weakness in index heavyweights including Reliance Industries, ITC and technology stocks accelerated the reversal,” Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, Founder & CEO of HST Wealth, a Research Analyst firm, said.
Elevated global bond yields, escalating geopolitical tensions and persistent foreign fund outflows continued to act as major headwinds, Ajit Mishra, SVP – research, Religare Broking said.
In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi dropped 3.65 per cent, while Shanghai’s SSE Composite index also settled lower. Hang Seng index ended marginally higher.
Markets in Europe were trading higher. US markets ended higher on Friday.
On Friday, the Sensex jumped 879.09 points, or 1.23 per cent, to settle at 72,472.33. The Nifty rallied 288.65 points, or 1.30 per cent, to end at 22,520.45. PTI SUM MR
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