Mumbai : Market remained a picture of cautiousness on Monday after the Sensex slipped 66 points to close at 26,777 as investors were on edge ahead of RBI’s policy meet on Tuesday and a string of upcoming events this month carrying an element of uncertainty.
IT, consumer durables, healthcare and oil and gas stocks cut a sorry figure as investors preferred to stay light on positions ahead of the RBI review. To be sure, Sensex was off to a better start and advanced on optimistic buying amid foreign fund inflows. But profit-booking set in soon after as the index ended down 65.58 points, or 0.24 per cent, at 26,777.45. The gauge had shed 0.11 point during Friday’s choppy trade.Sentiment turned somewhat cautious as a majority of investors expect that the RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan will maintain status quo and hold rates steady in Tuesday’s bi-monthly monetary policy meet, after an impressive 7.6 per cent GDP growth in 2015-16, brokers said.
The broader NSE Nifty snapped its three-day winning run by falling 19.75 points, or 0.24 per cent, to close at 8,201.05 after gyrating between 8,234.70 and 8,186.05. There were also lingering worries about the outcome of the impending US Federal Reserve meet and uncertainty about a Brexit — the likelihood of Britain leaving the European Union.
But the silver lining was recently-released upbeat GDP numbers and retention of the above-normal monsoon forecast, which capped the losses a bit. From the IT space, TCS and Wipro counters saw some selling pressure and fell up to 0.83 per cent after the dollar weakened against the rupee. About 60 per cent revenue of software exporters’ comes in the form of the US dollar.
