Sensex retreats from record highs, drops 200 points on no-trust motion

The BSE Sensex, after hitting a new peak of 36,747.87 points in early trade, dropped by 199.04 points, or 0.54%, to 36,320.92 with metal, realty, power, auto and banking stocks falling up to 2.69%.

After scaling a record high of 36,747.87 in early trade, the benchmark BSE Sensex fell nearly 200 points in afternoon trade after a no-confidence motion against the Modi government was moved in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The BSE Sensex, after opening at 36,722.41 points, touched a high of 36,747.87 and a low of 36,690.28 points.(Abhijit Bhatlekar/ Mint)

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said she would announce the date for a debate on it in “2-3 days”.

The BSE 30-share barometer, after hitting a new peak of 36,747.87 points in early trade, dropped by 199.04 points, or 0.54%, to 36,320.92 with metal, realty, power, auto and banking stocks falling up to 2.69%.

The gauge had gained 227.91 points to hit a new high of of 36,747.87 (intra-day), surpassing its previous record of 36,740.07 reached on July 13.

The broader NSE Nifty, too, slipped below the psychological 11,000-mark. It dropped by 51.75 points, or 0.47% to 10,956.30. In early trade, it touched a high of 11,076.20.

Brokers said apart from profit-booking at record levels by participants, a mixed trend in other Asian markets and unabated foreign fund outflows by foreign funds hurt the trading sentiment.

Fresh weakness in the rupee to weighed on market sentiment, as the domestic unit fell 13 paise to 68.58 against the dollar after a strong opening.

The laggards that dragged the key indices were Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Vedanta, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, HUL, M&M, ICICI Bank, NTPC, Maruti Suzuki, Coal India, RIL, Kotak Bank,Infosys and SBI, falling up to 4.84%.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net of ₹673.99 crore yesterday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net of ₹840.06 crore, data released by stock exchanges showed.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng turned negative and shed 0.32%, Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.40%, while Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.52%.