Mumbai– Sentiments in the Indian equity market weakened on Thursday with the rupee hitting fresh lows.
Further, decline in the global markets subdued the domestic indices, analysts said.
The rupee touched a record low of 70.39-40 against the dollar on Thursday tracking weakness in its global peers. It settled at a record closing low of 70.16 against the dollar, weakening by 26 paise from Tuesday’s close of 69.90 a US dollar.
Index-wise, the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 11,385.05 points, down 50.05 points or 0.44 per cent from its previous close of 11,435.10 points.
The barometer 30-scrip S&P BSE Sensex closed at 37,663.56 points, down 188.44 and 0.50 per cent from its previous close of 37,852 points on Tuesday.
The barometer touched an intra-day high of 37,891.92 points and an intra-day low of 37,634.13 points.
In the broader markets, the S&P BSE Mid-cap fell by 0.48 per cent and the S&P BSE Samll-cap ended lower by 0.20 per cent from the previous close.
“Markets corrected on Thursday as they failed to sustain at the highs of the day. Banks and metal stocks (due to falling commodity prices) led the fall,” Deepak Jasani, the Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities, said.
“Indian rupee fell in the morning and again in the afternoon….”
Investment-wise, provisional data with exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrip worth Rs 825.08 crore, while the domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth Rs 133.78 crore.
Sector-wise, the S&P BSE Healthcare rose 140.83 points, the IT index was up 86.25 points and auto index ended higher 71.81 points.
In contrast, the S&P BSE metal index declined by 282.83 points, followed by the consumer durables index, which was down 211.72 points and the banking index ended lower 203.22 points.
The major gainers on the S&P BSE Sensex were Sun Pharma, up 2.98 per cent at Rs 619.60; Bharti Airtel, up 1.51 per cent at Rs 372.05; Infosys, up 1.17 per cent at Rs 1,425.30; Tata Motors, up 0.99 per cent at Rs 251.15; and Axis Bank up 0.90 per cent at Rs 623.85 per share.
The major losers were Kotak Mahindra Bank, down 3.62 per cent at Rs 1,244.90; Vedanta, down 3.05 per cent at Rs 208.55; HDFC, down 2.61 per cent at Rs 1,890.90; Tata Steel, down 1.87 per cent at Rs 568.10; and Larsen and Toubro, down 1.6 per cent at Rs 1,232.95 per share. (IANS)
