The BSE Sensex slipped nearly 81 points on Thursday due to selling in shares of information technology, banks and consumption sectors. Traders said that a sharp fall in the rupee and withdrawal of foreign funds also affected the market sentiment. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 80.74 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 48,093.32. Similarly, the National Stock Nifty fell 8.90 points or 0.06 per cent to close at 14,137.35 points.
Among Sensex companies, Titan shares lost the most by 2.03 per cent. After this, shares of Nestle India, Hindustan Unilever, Infosys, HCL Tech, ITC, ICICI Bank and Kotak Bank also declined. On the other hand, shares of Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv and L&T rose to 3.75 per cent. In contrast to the broader market trend, BSE Midcap and Smallcap climbed 1.05 per cent.
The upsurge of President Donald Trump’s supporters in the US was ignored by global markets. Wall Street reached record highs after Democrats won Georgia’s Senate election. The victory gave Democrats a majority in both houses of the US Parliament. This would make it easier for elected President Joe Biden to pursue his policies.
Vinod Modi, strategic head of Reliance Securities, said, “Midcap and smallcap stocks once again performed well. Investors are buying into these segments because of the large valuation gap and the expectation of income improvement.” Adding to he said that Democrats’ control over both houses of the US Congress is good in terms of emerging markets. This has raised hopes of high financial stimulus in America. He said that the results of the third quarter of the companies and the upcoming general budget will be very important for the Indian market.
Other Asian markets saw gains in China’s Shanghai Composite, Japan’s Nikki and South Korea’s Kospi. Hangseng in Hong Kong fell. European markets were in profit in early trade. Meanwhile, global benchmark Brent crude oil lost 0.02 per cent to $ 54.29 a barrel.
In the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee fell 20 paise to 73.31 per dollar. Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 483.64 crore on Wednesday, according to provisional data from the stock markets.
