Sensex Drops Ahead of RBI Policy; RIL, HDFC Drag

Mumbai, Aug 5 (PTI) Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed lower on Tuesday following selling in oil & gas and banking shares ahead of the Reserve Bank's monetary policy announcement on August 6.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 308.47 points or 0.38 per cent to close at 80,710.25. During the day, it declined 464.32 points or 0.57 per cent to hit an intraday low of 80,554.40.

The broader NSE Nifty fell 73.20 points or 0.30 per cent to close at 24,649.55. In the intraday session, it slipped by 132.45 points or 0.53 per cent to 24,590.30.

Among Sensex shares, Adani Ports, Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Eternal, BEL, HDFC Bank, Power Grid, ITC and Sun Pharmaceutical were the major laggards.

However, Titan, Maruti, Trent, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, L&T, HCL Technologies and NTPC were among the gainers.

The BSE smallcap gauge went lower by 0.27 per cent and the midcap index by 0.14 per cent.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Shanghai's SSE Composite index, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Japan's Nikkei 225 index closed in the positive territory.

The European markets were trading in green. The US markets ended higher on Monday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.02 per cent to USD 68.06 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 2,566.51 crore while Domestic Institutional Investors purchased equities worth Rs 4,386.29 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

On Monday, the 30-share Sensex gained 418.81 points to settle at 81,018.72, and the NSE Nifty jumped by 157.40 points to close at 24,722.75.