After a two-day rally, Sensex dropped marginally by 31 points to end the day in red despite staying above 58,0000. Nifty also dropped but held its place over 17,000 points, as global markets await job data from the US. Banking and energy stocks were the top laggards, a day after the World Bank cut India’s growth forecast over global turbulence.
The rupee on the other hand continued to fall after moving to a safe distance from 82 against the US dollar. It hit another record low of 82.32 after losing 15 paise.
Media, real estate and consumer goods were among sectors that performed well in Indian markets, even as all stocks remained subdued. Commodity prices and debt have also weight down growth in South Asia. Reflecting Wall Street’s trajectory, Asian stocks also closed lower, with Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul going down marginally.
Weak performance from chipmakers bogged down European markets, while a strong US job data is expected to lead to more aggressive interest rate hikes for tackling inflation. Indian markets also saw Electronic Mart India pull off a successful IPO subscribed 56 times.
