MUMBAI, March 2 (PTI): Market benchmarks ended nearly 1 per cent lower on Thursday amid weak trend in global equities and continuous foreign fund outflows.
The BSE Sensex tumbled 501.73 points or 0.84 per cent to settle at 58,909.35. During the day, it tanked 544.82 points or 0.91 per cent to 58,866.26.
The NSE Nifty declined 129 points or 0.74 per cent to end at 17,321.90.
“Nifty continued its downmove today after a one day rise, pulled down by weak Asian cues,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
From the Sensex pack, Maruti, Axis Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Nestle, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra and Bharti Airtel were the major laggards.
Power Grid, Sun Pharma, HCL Technologies, Larsen & Toubro and UltraTech Cement were the gainers.
In the broader market, the smallcap gauge declined 0.22 per cent and midcap dipped 0.13 per cent.
Among the sectoral indices, teck declined 1.33 per cent, IT fell by 1.24 per cent, bankex (0.87 per cent), auto (0.85 per cent), financial services (0.73 per cent) and consumer durables (0.59 per cent).
Energy, utilities, oil & gas, power, realty and services were the gainers.
In Asian markets, Japan, China and Hong Kong ended lower, while Seoul settled in the green.
Stock markets in Europe were trading lower during the afternoon trade. The US markets had ended mostly lower on Wednesday.
“Global markets turned back to selling mode with the US 10-year bond yield crossing 4 per cent as a fresh set of US data suggested that inflation will remain elevated for a longer period. Rising bond yields are driving foreign money out of emerging markets, and as a result, FIIs were net sellers in the domestic market for the sixth consecutive day,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
International oil benchmark Brent crude advanced 0.51 per cent to USD 84.74 per barrel.
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) again offloaded shares worth Rs 424.88 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
