Cutting short its four-day gaining streak, benchmark Sensex declined by over 150 points on Wednesday due to profit booking in IT, FMCG and banking shares following weak global trends and persistent foreign capital outflows.
In a volatile session, the 30-share BSE Sensex settled 150.48 points or 0.28 per cent lower at 53,026.97 as 20 of its stocks ended with losses. During the day, it tumbled 564.77 points or 1.06 per cent to 52,612.68 ahead of the expiry in the derivatives segment on Thursday.
The NSE Nifty declined 51.10 points or 0.32 per cent to 15,799.10 with 34 of its constituents closing in the red.
IndusInd Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Titan, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bajaj Finance were the major laggards among Sensex shares.
However, gains in NTPC, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, UltraTech Cement and ITC restricted a major fall in the barometer.
"Markets traded volatile for yet another session and lost nearly half a percent. Weak global cues were weighing on the sentiment in early trade which triggered a gap-down start however buying in select index majors trimmed the losses as the day progressed," Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd said.
Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul and Hong Kong ended lower.
European markets were also trading lower in mid-session deals. The US markets also ended lower on Tuesday.
"Consumer confidence is declining rapidly due to the uncontrolled & constant rise in inflation. India had to bear the double-whammy effect of a dampening global equity market and rising crude prices as major suppliers like Saudi are unable to boost the output in the short-term.
"However, the domestic market was able to recover most of the losses due to the strong movement of index heavyweights, PSUs, metals and oil & gas stocks before slipping some gains by the end of the day due to volatile global market," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude gained 0.31 per cent to USD 118.3 per barrel.
Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities said, "Nifty witnessed a lacklustre trading session before ending with some losses. On the lower end, 15650-15700 acted as support for the day. On the higher end, it found resistance around previous close. The trend is likely to remian sideward to a bit negative for the near term. Any fall below 15650 might pave the way for a serious correction in the market. Resistances on the higher end, are placed at 15900/16000"
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, as they sold shares worth Rs 1,244.44 crore on Tuesday, as per exchange data.
