Mumbai. The local stock market fell for the third consecutive day on Tuesday in volatile trading and the BSE Sensex was down by 220 points. Investors booked profits in power, oil and capital goods stocks ahead of the Lok Sabha election results.
The 30-share BSE Sensex, which oscillated between gains and losses, closed at 75,170.45 points, down 220.05 points or 0.29 percent. During the trading session, it reached a high of 75,585.40 points while it fell to a low of 75,083.22 points.
The National Stock Exchange’s Nifty, based on fifty shares, started with a gain. Despite this, in the end it closed at 22,888.15 points with a fall of 44.30 points or 0.19 percent.
Analysts said that amid uncertainty before the election results, there is a trend of buying on decline and selling on rise in the stock markets. Sensex and Nifty reached record highs during trading on Monday. However, later both the standard indices closed in loss due to profit booking by investors. Power Grid, NTPC, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, Reliance Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Maruti were the major losers among Sensex stocks. On the other hand, Asian Paints, Wipro, JSW Steel, Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Finserv and Mahindra & Mahindra are among the stocks that remained in profit.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said, “After the recent rally, the Indian market has seen a slight decline. Volatility may continue due to uncertainty, the reason for this is that the time of election results is coming closer.” According to analysts, the stocks of mid-sized and small companies did not perform well, while stocks considered safe like pharmaceutical and daily use goods companies rose.
Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said, “Nifty fell for the third consecutive day. Uncertainty is increasing in the market before the election results…” The Smallcap index, representing the shares of small companies, fell by 1.09 percent while the Midcap index, representing the shares of mid-sized companies, fell by 0.63 percent. In other Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei, China’s Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng were in loss.
There was a mixed trend in early trade in major European markets. The US market was closed on Monday. Global oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.13 percent to $83.21 per barrel. According to stock market data, foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 541.22 crore on Monday.