Mumbai: Market gave a poor account of itself as the Sensex tumbled over 184 points today to end at 29,237, with heavyweight RIL struggling in the wake of the Sebi ban, which barred the company from equity derivatives trading for one year. The general global weakness stemmed from investors’ doubts about future policies of US President Donald Trump, who failed to push through his much-hyped healthcare legislation, which cast its shadow on local stocks here.
Logging the first fall in three sessions, the 30-share index stayed in the negative zone throughout and settled down by 184.25 points, or 0.63 per cent, at 29,237.15 after hitting a low of 29,163.54. The 50-share Nifty slipped below the 9,100-mark to touch a low of 9,024.65 before making a partial recovery to close 62.80 points, or 0.69 per cent, lower at 9,045.20.
Tata Steel was the top Sensex loser, skidding 3.15 per cent, followed by Reliance Industries (2.76 per cent) after Sebi imposed a 1-year ban on the company from the equity derivatives space for alleged fraudulent trading. The rally in the rupee sent IT shares lower, which earn much of their revenue in the US dollar. HCL Technologies lost 1.8 per cent, Wipro 1.79 per cent and Tech Mahindra 1.25 per cent. The rupee hit a nearly 1-1/2 year high to close at 65.04 against the dollar. Stocks of drugmakers retreated, with Sun Pharma and Lupin ending lower by up to 1.76 per cent. “Global headwinds on account of (Donald) Trump’s failure on US healthcare bill has kept market across the world under the selling mode, including India. The global market waned due to the concern over the future rollout of tax cuts and fiscal spending plan in US,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
“The premium valuation and speculative trades as expiry nears will test investor’s patience in the near term.” Meanwhile, the government tabled four Bills related to GST in the Lok Sabha today, which has taken the reform process a step closer to its intended rollout from July 1. Coal India ended 2.06 per cent down even as the state-owned miner announced its second interim dividend of Rs 1.15 per share for the current financial year. Other major losers were Asian Paints, GAIL, ONGC, Adani Ports, Hero MotoCorp and Tata Motors.
Broader markets too were in a bearish mood. The mid-cap and small-cap indices closed lower. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 543.35 crore on Friday, as per provisional data. In Asia, key indices turned lower. In Europe, most shares slipped. The BSE metal fell by 2.60 per cent and a similar trend was seen in oil and gas, healthcare and IT.
PTI