MUMBAI, July 25 (PTI): Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty snapped their six-day winning run to close lower by over a half per cent after profit booking in oil & gas, automobile and telecom stocks on Monday.
The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 306.01 points or 0.55 per cent to settle at 55,766.22 dragged down by index heavyweight Reliance Industries.
During the day, the barometer declined 535.15 points or 0.95 per cent to 55,537.08.
The broader NSE Nifty dipped 88.45 points or 0.53 per cent to 16,631 as 31 of its constituents closed in the red.
“Bulls finally lost steam after surging ahead for the last six consecutive sessions as investors booked profit in automobile, oil & gas, and telecom stocks, even though gains in metals and select capital goods stocks capped losses. Investors traded with caution ahead of the Federal Reserve meet on Wednesday,” Shrikant Chouhan, head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd, said.
Among the Sensex constituents, Mahindra & Mahindra fell the most by 3.80 per cent.
Reliance Industries declined 3.31 per cent after the company’s June quarter earnings failed to cheer investors.
The other laggards from the pack were Maruti Suzuki India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, UltraTech Cement, Tech Mahindra and Nestle.
Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, HCL Technologies, Wipro and NTPC were among the gainers.
“RIL’s results, though impressive on the telecom and retail front, fell slightly below expectations in the refining space,” said V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Infosys, which posted a 3.2 per cent increase in its June quarter profit and upgraded its revenue guidance for FY23, declined by 0.23 per cent.
“Fears of global economic slowdown along with reaction to a slew of major quarterly earnings dictated the trend in the domestic market. Recession fears are casting a shadow over the global markets as US and Euro business activity contracted unexpectedly owing to the downturn in manufacturing and service sectors,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.
In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge dipped 0.13 per cent and midcap index ended marginally higher by 0.03 per cent.
Among the BSE sectoral indices, auto declined by 1.69 per cent, energy by 1.32 per cent, telecom by 0.96 per cent, oil & gas by 0.86 per cent, healthcare by 0.71 per cent and realty by 0.42 per cent.
Basic materials, industrials and metal were among the gainers.
Ajit Mishra, VP – Research, Religare Broking said that indications are in the favour of consolidation and volatility is expected to remain high, due to the prevailing earnings season and upcoming US Fed meeting outcome.
In Asia, markets in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended lower, while Seoul settled in the green.
Markets in Europe were trading in the green during mid-session deals. The US markets had ended on a lower note on Friday.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.24 per cent to USD 104.52 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 675.45 crore on Friday, as per exchange data.
