Sensex Drops 352 Points: Profit Taking, Global Trends

Mumbai, Feb 26 (PTI) Closing in the red for the second straight session, benchmark Sensex on Monday declined 352 points due to profit-taking in IT, metal and consumer durable goods shares amid weak global trends.

The 30-share BSE barometer closed at 72,790.13 points, down 352.67 points or 0.48 per cent over the previous close. As many as 26 index constituents declined while four advanced.

The broader Nifty of NSE dropped 90.65 points or 0.41 per cent to end the day at 22,122.05 points and 37 stocks in the index were in the red.

Selling in index heavyweights, including Infosys, TCS, ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries, dragged the benchmark indices into the negative for the second straight session, analysts said.

Among the Sensex shares, Asian Paints fell the most by 3.9 per cent as analysts expressed concerns over rising competition in the domestic paints market following the entry of Aditya Birla group company Grasim Industries into the paints segment.

IT shares Infosys, TCS, HCL Tech, Wipro and Tech Mahindra continued to slide amid inflation concerns in the US market.

Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Titan, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance and Maruti were among the other Sensex losers.

On the other hand, Larsen & Toubro gained the most by 2.36 per cent. Power Grid, HUL and Nestle were also among the gainers.

"The market took a breather after the recent run-up as investors' focus shifted from earnings to economic triggers this week.

"The US and India GDP data, eurozone inflation, and US jobless claim data will be influential economic numbers for the central bank to take a call on interest rates, which will dictate market sentiment in the near term," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.

The uncertainty over demand and high US inventory pushed oil prices down, Nair added.

In the broader market, BSE Midcap fell 0.38 per cent while BSE Smallcap slipped 0.06 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, BSE Metal fell the most by 1.27 per cent. BSE Consumer Durables dropped by 1.25 per cent, BSE Teck by 1.13 per cent, and BSE IT by 1.06 per cent.

On the other hand, BSE Utilities gained 1.41 per cent, BSE Power by 1.01 per cent, and Capita Goods by 0.84 per cent.

The underperformance of the banking majors is largely weighing on the sentiment. However, rotational buying in other heavyweights is capping the damage, Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.

Market breadth was negative as of the 4,108 scrips traded, 2,268 stocks declined, 1,710 stocks gained and 130 stocks closed unchanged.

Total turnover in the equity segment was Rs 7,168.78 crore on BSE.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed stocks stood at Rs 392 lakh crore (USD 4.73 trillion) at close.

Asian markets mostly declined on Monday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.5 per cent, the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.9 per cent and South Korea's Kospi declined 0.8 per cent. However, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 0.4 per cent.

European shares also traded lower with Euro Stoxx 50 dropping 0.22 per cent. The FTSE 100 in London slipped 0.34 per cent while CAC 40 in France declined 0.45 per cent.

Oil benchmark Brent Crude dropped 0.5 per cent to USD 76.11 per barrel in futures trade.

On Friday, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers as they purchased securities worth Rs 1,276.09 crore.