Profit booking halts 4-day winning run

Mumbai: Snapping its four-day winning run, 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 a low of 52,612.68 ahead of the expiry in the derivatives segment on Thursday. The broader NSE Nifty declined by 51.10 points or 0.32 per cent to 15,799.10 with 34 of its constituents closing in the red. In the four-day rally to Tuesday, Sensex spurted by 2.59 per cent or 1,354 points while Nifty had gained 2.84 per cent or 436 points.

Among Sensex shares, Hindustan Unilever fell the most by 3.46 per cent. IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Titan, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bajaj Finance were the other major losers. However, gains in NTPC, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, UltraTech Cement and ITC restricted a major fall in the barometer. NTPC rose the most by 2.46 per cent while Reliance Industries advanced 1.98 per cent.

"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," said Ajit Mishra, V-P (research), Religare Broking Ltd.

Consumer confidence is declining rapidly due to the uncontrolled and constant rise in inflation, Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said. 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," Nair said.

"Markets will react to the US GDP data in early trades and then the focus would shift to the monthly derivatives expiry. While the Nifty has been hovering around its crucial hurdle of 15,900, the recent decline in the banking index is pointing towards more pain ahead," Ajit Mishra said.