Sensex falls 129 points; Wipro down for 4th day
The president of the Confederation of Indian Industry on Wednesday said that that the Indian economy quickly needs a revival package.
Markets saw a reversal in fortunes Wednesday, giving up most of the gains from yesterday amid weak global cues and profit booking. The BSE Sensex declined 129 points or 0.7% to 17,489, while the broader Nifty index shed 39 points to 5,306. The rupee also declined and traded at 55.44 to the dollar at 3.45 p.m.
Unlike Tuesday, global cues were not supportive. European stocks traded lower, though Asian stocks ended off the day's low.
Two stocks - Reliance Industries and ITC - accounted for most of the losses on the Sensex. Tata Motors also added pressure.
Metals, energy, realty, auto and FMCG stocks saw the biggest cut, falling 1-1.2% on the BSE. On the Nifty index, 42 of the 50 stocks ended in the red.
Aluminium major Hindalco was the top loser, falling 3%. IT major Wipro, Anil Ambani promoted Reliance Infra, Tata Motors, and engineering firm Siemens were the top Nifty laggards, falling 2-3%. Some of these stocks saw profit booking after strong gains yesterday. (Read: Why Wipro fell for the 4th day)
Private lender Kotak Mahindra, L&T - India's biggest engineering and construction firm, and oil refiner BPCL gained 1-2% on the Nifty index.
Infosys (0.5%) closed off the day's high ahead of reporting first quarter earnings tomorrow. But, TCS (-0.3%), which also reports June quarter numbers tomorrow, ended lower. (Read: Will Infosys disappoint again?)
Mortgage lender HDFC (-0.5%) closed with modest losses. The company beat Street expectations and reported a 19% jump in net profit in the first quarter. (Read more)
Among other stocks, Financial Technologies (3%) and MCX (-2.5%) saw profit booking after witnessing strong gains in early trade. MCX-SX, promoted by MCX and Financial Technologies, has won Sebi's approval to become a full-fledged stock exchange.
The market breadth was weak with only 31% stocks advancing on the broader BSE 500 index.