E-Paper
Sensex trips 66 pts to 26,777, Nifty falls 20 to close at 8,201 ahead of RBI meet
The 30-share index, which had lost 0.11 point in the choppy session on Friday, recovered by 58.39 points or 0.21% to 26,901.42, with realty, capital goods, consumer durables, banking and auto sector stocks leading the gains.
Market remained a picture of cautiousness on Monday after the Sensex slipped 66 points to close at 26,777 as investors were on edge ahead of RBI’s policy meet on Tuesday and a string of upcoming events this month carrying an element of uncertainty.
IT, consumer durables, healthcare and oil and gas stocks cut a sorry figure as investors preferred to stay light on positions ahead of the RBI review.
To be sure, Sensex was off to a better start and advanced on optimistic buying amid foreign fund inflows. But profit-booking set in soon after as the index ended down 65.58 points, or 0.24%, at 26,777.45. The gauge had shed 0.11 point during Friday’s choppy trade.
Sentiment turned somewhat cautious as a majority of investors expect that the RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan will maintain status quo and hold rates steady in Tuesday’s bi-monthly monetary policy meet, after an impressive 7.6% GDP growth in 2015-16, brokers said.
The broader NSE Nifty snapped its three-day winning run by falling 19.75 points, or 0.24%, to close at 8,201.05 after gyrating between 8,234.70 and 8,186.05.
There were also lingering worries about the outcome of the impending US Federal Reserve meet and uncertainty about a Brexit -- the likelihood of Britain leaving the European Union.
But the silver lining was recently-released upbeat GDP numbers and retention of the above-normal monsoon forecast, which capped the losses a bit.
From the IT space, TCS and Wipro counters saw some selling pressure and fell up to 0.83% after the dollar weakened against the rupee. About 60% revenue of software exporters’ comes in the form of the US dollar.
Out of the 30-share Sensex, 21 scrips ended lower.
Those which lost were Bharti Airtel (2.62%), Lupin (2.08%), Maruti Suzuki (2.01%), Sun Pharma (1.67%), Axis Bank (1.60%), Hero MotoCorp (1.42%) and Coal India (1%).
However, Tata Motors, M&M, GAIL, Cipla, ITC and BHEL rose by up to 1.51%.
Stocks of engineering major L&T ended 0.49% higher at Rs 1,468.10 after the company said its construction arm has won orders worth Rs 2,161 crore.
Shares of state-owned banks such as Oriental Bank of Commerce, Punjab National Bank, SBI, Allahabad Bank and Andhra Bank were lapped up too, which rose by up to 2.85% after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said lenders will be empowered and protected for “commercially prudent” settlement of bad debt.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,585.01 crore last Friday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
Sector-wise, BSE consumer durables index fell the most by tumbling 1.39%, followed by healthcare, technology, oil and gas and IT.
The broader markets, however, threw up a mixed trend, with the mid-cap index falling 0.09% and small-cap rising 0.22%.
Other Asian shares ended mixed as key indices like Japan’s Nikkei fell by 0.37% and Shanghai Composite shed 0.16% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.40%.
European stocks were trading mixed, with FTSE rising 0.72% and Paris’ CAC dropping 0.10% in early trade.
