Sensex Falls For Fourth Straight Day, Closes 300 Points Lower: 10 Things To Know

18 May 2018, 03:57 PM IST

A selloff witnessed across banking, auto, pharma and metal stocks dragged the key indices lower

Thirty six stocks on the Nifty 50 finished the session in the negative zone.
Banking stocks declined, with the NSE sectoral index - Nifty Bank - ending 0.8 per cent lower. The Nifty Bank also extended its drop into a fourth straight session.
ICICI Bank shares fell 3.3 per cent while Bank of Baroda closed 2.5 per cent lower. SBI and PNB closed 1.6 per cent and 2.2 per cent lower respectively.
The Nifty Auto finished 1.7 per cent lower. Ashok Leyland fell 3.8 per cent, Tata Motors 3.3 per cent, TVS Motor 2.6 per cent and Maruti Suzuki India 2.1 per cent.
Pharma stocks also fell, with Glenmark Pharma closing 4.8 per cent lower, Cipla falling 3.7 per cent and Sun Pharma shedding 3.1 per cent.
Investor sentiment was also subdued amid caution over developments in US-China trade negotiations and as crude prices broke above $80 a barrel for the first time since November 2014 on Thursday.
Reliance Communications (RCom) shares closed 7.3 per cent lower. During the session, RCom shares had jumped as much as 30 per cent, after reports that the debt-ridden company was in advanced talks with Ericsson for an out-of-court settlement of its dues.
With debt totalling Rs 45,733 crore ($6.73 billion) at end-March 2017, RCom is the most-leveraged of all listed telecoms carriers in the country.
On the other hand, FMCG shares rose with the NSE index - Nifty FMCG - closing 1.8 per cent higher.
Colgate-Palmolive shares rose 3.9 per cent, HUL 2.3 per cent and ITC shares settled 1.2 per cent higher.

(With agency inputs)