Indian stock markets snapped the three-day gaining streak on Tuesday with the key equity indices Sensex and Nifty losing up to 0.8% each. BSE Sensex shed 227.8 points or 0.68% to finish at 33,227.99 whereas NSE Nifty lost 82.1 points or 0.8% to conclude at 10,240.15. During the day, the benchmark Sensex dived 276.04 points to hit a day’s low of 33,179.75 and the wider 50-share barometer Nifty tripped 92.05 points to mark the day’s low at 10,230.2. Domestic equities started off on a weaker note today as investors turned cautious ahead of key macroeconomic data due later today. Among the macro data, Inflation data for the month of November, industrial and manufacturing productions figures for October and current account data are set to release today evening at 5:30 pm.
Shares of Dr Reddy’s, Adani Ports, ONGC were the only notable gainers on Sensex today, rising up to 2.83% while Lupin and Infosys provided a little support. The heavyweight shares of HDFC Bank, ITC, ICICI Bank, TCS and L&T contributed the most in the Sensex down surge. Collectively these five stocks alone shaved off about 168 points while an uptick in Infosys and ONGC helped to trim the losses, adding about 28 points to the index. Shares of oil marketing companies such as IOC, HPCL, BPCL slid up to 4.2% after Brent crude jumped to over two-year highs.
The stock of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories settled 3% higher following which the market capitalisation of the company improved by Rs 1,017.27 crore. Dr Reddy’s received an EIR from USFDA as a closure of audit for its formulations manufacturing
plant – 3 at Bachupally, Hyderabad. The stock of Fortis Healthcare emerged as the top loser among the BSE A group shares, fell 7.78% to Rs 128.1.
Among the Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.3% to 22,866.17, South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.4% to 2,461, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.6% to 28,793.88 while China’s Shanghai Composite index shed 1.3% to 3,280.81. Overnight, Wall Street indices closed higher on Monday and the biggest drivers were technology and energy sectors as oil prices rose and investors waited for an expected US Federal Reserve rate hike later in the week, Reuters reported.