Mumbai. Local stock markets declined on Wednesday and the BSE Sensex fell 131 points below its record high due to profit booking in information technology (IT) stocks. Investors preferred profit booking ahead of the interest rate decision of the US central bank Federal Reserve. During trading, both the benchmark indices… Sensex and Nifty had reached record highs. However, it declined in afternoon trading due to profit booking by investors at higher levels.
The 30-share Sensex closed at 82,948.23 points, down 131.43 points or 0.16 percent. During trading, at one point it had climbed 246.72 points to a new peak of 83,326.38 points. The National Stock Exchange’s Nifty also closed at 25,377.55 points, down 41 points or 0.16 percent. During trading, it had reached its highest level of 25,482.20 points, up 63.65 points or 0.25 percent.
Among the 30 Sensex companies, Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies fell by more than three percent each. Apart from this, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma and Tata Motors also suffered major losses. On the other hand, shares of Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India (SBI) remained in profit.
HDFC Securities’ retail deputy head Devarsh Vakil said, “Nifty had reached a new high of 25,482 points at one point during the forenoon trade. But in the afternoon trade, its gains were lost and it closed with a decline of 41 points at 25,377 points. It failed to gain direction for the fourth consecutive session and remained in a limited range.” He said, “The two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the US Federal Reserve will conclude today. The FOMC, led by Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell, may possibly cut the policy rate by a quarter percent. However, there is also talk of a cut of 0.50 percent in some sections.” The midcap index related to medium companies fell by 0.71 percent and the smallcap index related to small companies fell by 0.52 percent.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said, “The performance of mid-cap stocks remained weak and some profit booking was seen in the domestic market. Global markets remained mixed on the expectation of a decision to cut the policy rate in the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The market is expecting a 0.25 percent cut in the policy rate.” In other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei and China’s Shanghai Composite were in profit. The market was closed in Hong Kong due to national holiday.
There was a downtrend during trading in major European markets. The US markets had a mixed trend on Tuesday. According to stock market data, foreign institutional investors were net buyers on Tuesday. They bought shares worth Rs 482.69 crore.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude fell 1.63 percent to $ 72.50 per barrel. On Tuesday, the Sensex closed at a record high of 83,079.66 points, up 90.88 points. The Nifty reached a new peak of 25,418.55 points with a gain of 34.80 points.