Sensex, Nifty Close Lower for 6th Day: IT, Oil Shares Drag

Mumbai, Feb 12 (PTI) Stock markets closed lower for the sixth straight day on Wednesday with Sensex falling by 122 points on unabated foreign fund outflows and trade war worries.

The 30-share BSE Sensex, which had tanked more than 900 points intra-day, closed at 76,171.08, down by 122.52 points or 0.16 per cent following a recovery in financial stocks.

The index tanked 905.21 points or 1.18 per cent to sink below the 76,000-level to hit a low of 75,388.39 in the first half. However, a recovery in financial and metal shares helped it recoup losses and trade in positive in afternoon session. The barometer failed to hold onto gains in the closing session due to selling in oil and IT shares.

The NSE Nifty dipped 26.55 points or 0.12 per cent to 23,045.25, marking its sixth straight day of losses. Intra-day, it tumbled 273.45 points or 1.18 per cent to 22,798.35, falling below the crucial 23,000-mark.

Since February 4, the BSE bellwether gauge has slumped 2,412.73 points or 3.07 per cent, while the Nifty tanked 694 points or 2.92 per cent.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, Mahindra & Mahindra, ITC, Power Grid, Reliance Industries, IndusInd Bank, Adani Ports, Titan and Infosys were the biggest laggards.

Bajaj Finserv, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro, UltraTech Cement, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Tata Motors were among the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,486.41 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

"The Indian market saw a slight recovery from the sharp intraday declines; however, overall sentiment remained weak due to elevated broader market valuations and muted Q3 earnings growth. Concerns over excessive valuations are expected to sustain the ongoing consolidation phase," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said. Additionally, uncertainty regarding the impact of metal tariffs added to market caution, Nair said.

"The upcoming release of US CPI inflation data will provide further market direction," he added.

The BSE smallcap gauge declined 0.49 per cent and midcap index went lower by 0.45 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, realty tanked 2.58 per cent, auto (0.84 per cent), consumer discretionary (0.75 per cent), oil & gas (0.62 per cent) and BSE Focused IT (0.54 per cent).

BSE commodities, financial services, bankex, capital goods and metal were the gainers.

As many as 2,435 stocks declined while 1,534 advanced and 97 remained unchanged on the BSE.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the positive territory.

European markets were trading higher. US markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.78 per cent to USD 76.40 a barrel.

Declining for the fifth day running on Tuesday, the BSE Sensex dropped 1,018.20 points or 1.32 per cent to settle at a two-week low of 76,293.60. The Nifty cracked 309.80 points or 1.32 per cent to 23,071.80.