Indian equity market ended in the red today, tracking losses in metal, IT and healthcare shares. The market closed lower for the fourth straight day despite holding on to opening gains in the first half of trading session.
Sensex closed 101 points lower at 60,821 and Nifty closed 63 points to 18,114. ITC was the top Sensex loser, shedding 3.39%, followed by Maruti, Infosys, NTPC and HCL Tech.
HDFC, Bajaj Auto, IndusInd, Kotak Bank and Axis Bank were among the top Sensex gainers, rising to 2.25 per cent. 17 of the 30 Sensex stocks closed lower.
The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms fell to Rs 264.42 lakh crore against the market cap of Rs 266.22 lakh crore in the previous session.
The market breadth was negative, with 1,316 shares closing higher against 1,982 shares ending in the red. Total 150 shares were unchanged.
The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes fell 250 points and 343 points, respectively.
Hemant Kanawala, Head of Equity, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance said, Recent firming of commodity prices especially energy is concerning as it may harden inflation expectations causing additional worry to central bankers who are trying to exit surplus liquidity conditions in a calibrated way. The firming of prices is beginning to impact the margins of companies in the natural resources sector even as it offers operating leverage tailwinds to companies in the consumer sector. Amid normalisation of liquidity and rising concerns on inflation margins, we anticipate near-term volatility in the Indian markets, which could offer an opportunity to buy given that fundamentals of the economy remain strong, he added.
On the sectoral front, healthcare, metal and IT shares led the losses with the BSE Healthcare index losing 403 points, the metal index losing 613 points and the BSE IT index losing 544 points.
Banking shares managed to cap the losses, with BSE bankex rising 337 points to 46,105.
Indices were off to a positive start today after three loss-making sessions. Sensex rose 450 points to 61,734 and Nifty climbed 130 points to 18,309 in early trade.
However, profit booking coupled with across-the board selling made the indices end in red.
Benchmark indices slipped for the third straight session on Thursday tracking losses in IT, consumer durables and metal stocks. Sensex closed 336 points lower at 60,923 and Nifty closed 88 points to 18,178.
Domestic institutional investors FIIs bought shares worth Rs 2,818 crore on October 21 and foreign institutional investors DIIs sold shares worth Rs 428 crore, as per provisional data available on NSE.
Meanwhile, the rupee weakened by 3 paise to close at 74.90 against the US currency today, weighed down by a muted trend in domestic equities and firm crude oil prices.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 74.82 and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.69 and a low of 74.94 against the US dollar in the day trade.
Australia's S&P ASX 200 ended flat at 7,415. Kospi rose 96 points to 28,804 and Nikkei ended flat at 3,006. Hang Seng gained 109 points to 26,126.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 16 points to 4,536, the Nasdaq lost 7 points to 15,121 and the Dow Jones climbed 152 points to 35,609. In Europe, FTSE gained 35 points to 7,225 and DAX gained 110 points to 15,583. CAC index was trading 67 points higher at 6753.