Mumbai, October 26
Equity benchmarks nursed losses on Tuesday as investors booked profits after a seven-session rally amid weak Asian market cues and foreign fund outflows.
The BSE Sensex failed to hold on the early gains and declined 287.70 points to finish at 59,543.96. During the day, it hit a low of 59,489.02 and a high of 60,081.24. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty fell 74.40 points to end at 17,656.35.
Nestle India was the top loser in the Sensex pack, slipping 2.83%, followed by Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finance and Asian Paints.
Market heavyweight Reliance Industries was the biggest drag on the benchmark following lacklustre Q2 results.
In contrast, Tech Mahindra, Maruti, Larsen & Toubro, Dr Reddy’s, SBI, NTPC and M&M were among the winners, climbing as much as 3.29%.
“The domestic market pared its early gains with FMCG and private banks pressuring the benchmark. Market attention has shifted to central bank policy announcements since the European Central Bank is expected to hike interest rates at its upcoming policy meeting.
“The impending US GDP data will give additional clarity to the expectation that the Fed will temper its aggression in regard to rate hikes,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge dipped 0.35%, while the midcap index climbed 0.45%.
Among BSE sectoral indices, FMCG fell 1.10%, telecommunication dipped 0.91%, financial services went lower by 0.62%, realty declined 0.61% and utilities lost 0.60%.
