Nifty Gives Up 11,250 As Markets Extend Losses To Third Day

The domestic stock markets ended lower on Wednesday, extending their losses to a third session in a row. The S&P BSE Sensex settled at 37,121.22, down 169.45 points or 0.45 per cent and the Nifty50 index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended at 11,234.35, with a loss of 44.55 points or 0.39 per cent. This was the lowest closing levels for markets since late July as the rupee hovering near its record low spooked investors, reported news agency Reuters. The top five Sensex laggards were IndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank, YES Bank, and HDFC, which lost between 1.4 and 3 per cent. 

Twenty three out of 50 Nifty stocks declined in trade. Top laggards on the index included Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank and Maruti Suzuki India. 

While consumer stocks led the declines in the markets, weakness in banking and financial services shares also dragged the indices lower. Consumer stocks fell with the Nifty FMCG index declining 1.3 per cent, as most of its 15 stocks ended the day with losses.

Smallcap and midcal stocks underperformed the broader indices. The BSE Midcap index closed 0.72 per cent lower while the Smallcap index was down 0.98 per cent.

According to  Jayant Manglik, President, Religare Broking Ltd, "Volatility is likely to remain high in near term, with lack of any fresh triggers on the domestic front. The ongoing trade war escalation between US-China, increasing crude oil price and depreciating rupee (vs dollar) have dampened investor sentiments."

Losses in domestic markets came despite mid gains in global peers. MSCI's index of global equities rose 0.2 per cent to a two-week high while emerging stocks too firmed for a second day, led by a one percent jump in Shanghai markets.

The deepening tariff row between the United States and China threatens to disrupt supply chains and undermine the world economy. But markets appear to have taken cheer from China's move to levy only 10 per cent duty on $60 billion of US imports, according to a report by Reuters.

European share markets followed Asian counterparts higher.

Meanwhile, the rupee was last at 72.84 per dollar, after strengthening 0.7 per cent to 72.4875 earlier in the session.

On Tuesday, foreign portfolio investors net sold equities worth Rs 1,143.73 crore while net purchases by domestic institutional investors stood at Rs 264.66 crore, according to provisional data from the NSE. (With agencies inputs)