Mumbai. The two-day rally in the local stock markets came to a halt on Wednesday and the BSE Sensex fell by about 400 points. The market came down due to selling pressure in Tata Motors, Reliance Industries and L&T, which have a strong share in the index, amid weak global sentiment.
In a volatile trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 81,523.16 points, down 398.13 points or 0.49 percent. The Sensex opened with a gain and during trading, it reached a high of 82,134.95 points. However, before the end of trading, there was selling pressure and the index fell by 498.15 points. The National Stock Exchange’s Nifty also closed at 24,918.45 points, down 122.65 points or 0.49 percent.
Among the 30 Sensex companies, Tata Motors suffered the maximum loss of about six percent. Apart from this, NTPC, Adani Ports, Larsen & Toubro, State Bank of India, JSW Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra, IndusInd Bank and Titan were the major losers. On the other hand, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, Hindustan Unilever and Bajaj Finserv are among the stocks that made profits.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said, “Market sentiment remains cautious due to the slowdown in the Chinese economy. Investors are waiting for the release of Consumer Price Index and domestic inflation data in the US.” The BSE Smallcap index, related to the shares of small companies, fell by 0.57 percent, while the BSE Midcap index related to mid-sized companies fell by 0.52 percent.” Religare Broking Ltd. Senior Vice President (Research) Ajit Mishra said that there was volatility in the market. The market remained in a limited range and it fell by about half a percent.
In other Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei, China’s Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng were in losses. Major European markets saw a bullish trend during afternoon trade. US markets were in profit on Tuesday.
According to stock market data, foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 2,208.23 crore on Tuesday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude rose 1.49 per cent to USD 70.22 per barrel.