Mumbai: The markets on Wednesday fell for the second consecutive day despite a promising start and saw all its early gains wiped off as the benchmark BSE Sensex lost over 19 points after players chose to book profits. A sharp correction in Chinese equities rekindled global risk aversion, with Shanghai Composite tumbling over 3% after rising strongly in recent weeks, which hit sentiment.
Brokers said that apart from profit-booking in blue-chips after recent gains, caution ahead of earnings announcement from key corporates and further weakening of the rupee against the dollar took its toll. Resuming higher, the Sensex touched the session's high of 27,445.24 on the back of sustained capital inflows and encouraging Q2 earnings by Hero MotoCorp.
However, the index failed to hold onto gains towards the middle of the session and slumped to a low of 27,190.55 before ending at 27,287.66, a fall of 19.17 points, or 0.07%. The gauge had lost 58.09 points in the previous volatile session. The 50-share NSE Nifty remained lacklustre too, which dropped 9.95 points, or 0.12%, to close the day at 8,251.70. Intra-day, it shuttled between 8,294.40 and 8,217.15. Out of the 30-share Sensex pack, 13 closed in the red and 17 finished higher.
"Domestic markets slipped after a positive opening largely due to a steep fall in Chinese markets and profit-booking in recent gainers", said Manoj Choraria, a Delhi-based stock broker. In the Sensex kitty, Dr Reddy's was the worst-hit, down 3.30%, followed by SBI (1.87%). Shares of HDFC Bank fell 0.03% despite the lender posting 20.5% jump in net profit at Rs 2,869.5 crore for the September quarter.
Others which lost are BHEL, GAIL, L&T, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Lupin, Tata Motors and RIL. Vedanta Ltd, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Infosys, Wipro and M&M were some of the bright spots though, which averted any further damage. Hero MotoCorp rallied 0.54% after company posted 1.13% rise in standalone net profit at Rs 772.06 crore for the second quarter ended September.
Sector-wise, the BSE realty index took the biggest blow, down 1.79%, followed by capital goods, healthcare, banking, oil & gas, PSU and power. In broader markets, mid-cap and small-cap indices fell up to 0.37% as investors booked profits.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net bought shares worth Rs 523.69 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Stock exchanges will remain closed on Thursday on account of Dussehra festival. Globally, Asian shares closed mixed, with the Shanghai index plunging 3.06%, while Japan's Nikkei ended 1.91% higher. European stocks were little changed in their early trade.
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