Mumbai. Domestic stock markets fell for the third consecutive day on Thursday due to continued withdrawal of foreign funds and selling pressure in shares of some major companies. BSE Sensex closed at a two-month low, falling 495 points, while NSE Nifty plunged 221 points. Analysts said heavy selling in shares of select banks, automobile and realty companies negatively affected market sentiment.
BSE’s benchmark index Sensex based on 30 shares fell 494.75 points or 0.61 percent and closed at 81,006.61 points. At one time during trading, it had slipped by 595.72 points to 80,905.64 points. There was an all-round fall in the Sensex and 21 out of its 30 stocks closed with losses. The standard index Nifty of National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 24,749.85 with a decline of 221.45 points or 0.89 percent.
Among the Sensex companies, Nestle fell by more than three percent. The daily consumer goods (FMCG) maker Nestle witnessed a huge selloff in its shares as its second quarter net profit declined by 0.94 percent to Rs 899.49 crore. Apart from this, shares of Mahindra & Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank and Tata Steel also closed with a decline. On the other hand, shares of Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Power Grid, Larsen & Toubro and State Bank of India remained bullish.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said, “The domestic market faced a significant decline due to all-round selling in automobile, realty, consumer durables and finance sectors. There was strong selling pressure due to expectations of weak sales in the festive season, increasing NPAs and sluggish loan growth. “Weak results in the second quarter are also affecting market sentiment.” In the broader market, the midcap index declined by 1.65 percent while the smallcap index lost 1.42 percent.
In sector wise indices, there was a big decline of 3.76 percent in realty segment and 3.48 percent in vehicle segment. A decline of 2.28 percent was recorded in consumer durable products segment and 1.77 percent decline was also recorded in commodity segment. Only IT and technology segments remained in growth.
Heavy selling started in the shares of leading two-wheeler manufacturer Bajaj Auto from the very beginning, which affected the sentiment.
Ajit Mishra, Senior Vice President (Research), Religare Broking Limited, said, “The situation worsened as the shares of major banks also came under pressure. “However, the fighting spirit of the IT sector helped in controlling the situation to some extent.” According to stock market data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have continued to withdraw from the Indian market. He made a net sale of shares worth Rs 3,435.94 crore on Wednesday.
In other markets of Asia, South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei, China’s Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed with losses. European markets were on the rise in afternoon trading. On Wednesday, American markets closed in positive territory.
Global oil standard Brent crude rose 0.27 percent to $ 74.42 per barrel. On Wednesday, Sensex fell 318.76 points to close at 81,501.36 points and Nifty closed at 24,971.30 points with a loss of 86.05 points.