Sensex, Nifty fall 1%, hit 7-month low

Broadly negative global markets along with a depreciating rupee pulled the domestic indices 1 per cent lower on Friday as both Sensex and Nifty dropped to a seven-month low.

Heavy selling pressure was witnessed in the BSE IT index, which fell the most (2.05 per cent), followed by the banking and finance index. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), all the sectoral indices closed in the red.

The NSE’s Nifty50 settled about 100 points, or 0.94 per cent, lower at 10,030 points.

The BSE Sensex, which opened at 33,776.80, lost 340.78 points, or 1.01 per cent from the previous close, to settle at 33,349.31 points. It touched a high of 33,776.80 points and a low of 33,291.58 during the day’s trade.

“Domestic markets continued to trade on a negative note and were unable to break the losing streak. Trading for the day began on a weak note as the key benchmark indices drifted lower in early trade as most Asian stocks fell,” said Abhijeet Dey, Senior Fund Manager-Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.

“While markets did witness a small recovery, it was short-lived as selling pressure continued to pull benchmark indices lower.”

In the broader markets, the S&P BSE Mid-cap declined 0.11 per cent while the S&P BSE Small-cap was down by 0.04 per cent from its previous close. The BSE market breadth was negative with 1,094 advances and 1,466 declines.

HDFC Securities’ Retail Research Head Deepak Jasani said that major Asian markets had closed on a negative note barring the Jakarta index and European indices like FTSE 100, DAX and CAC 40. All were trading in the red.

“Sectorally, the top gainer was the energy index. The top losers were banking, IT, FMCG and metals and infra indices,” he added.

Investment-wise, provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold stocks worth Rs 1,356.66 crore and domestic institutional investors bought scrip worth Rs 1,875.89 crore.

Yes Bank lost the most in the day’s trade on BSE, loosing close to 9 per cent to settle at Rs 180.55 a share after it reported a 3.7 per cent decline in net profit for the quarter ended in September on Thursday.

It was followed by Axis Bank, down 4.04 per cent at Rs 537.35; IndusInd Bank, down 3.14 per cent at Rs 1,445.10; TCS, down 2.86 per cent at Rs 1,799.60; and Kotak Mahindra Bank, down 2.48 per cent at Rs 1,159.05 per share.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors, up 2.09 per cent at Rs 168.85; Reliance Industries, up 1.41 per cent at Rs 1,044.70; Bajaj Auto, up 1.13 per cent at Rs 2,505.55; Tata Steel, up 0.83 per cent at Rs 551.10 and Bharti Airtel, up 0.83 per cent at Rs 298.30.