Metal, realty stocks take toll on mkts

 Sensex down 97.03 pts; Nifty drops 47.10 pts

Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex buckled under selling pressure for the third straight session Friday, capping off its worst month in over two-and-half years, as investors clamoured for the exit amid valuation and macro stability concerns.

The 30-share BSE index slipped 97.03 points in see-saw trade to close at 36,227.14, while the NSE Nifty dropped 47.10 points to 10,930.45. 

The Sensex has lost a whopping 2,417.93 points, or 6.26 per cent, in September -- its worst monthly show since February 2016. 

Sentiment remained weak on the back of a weak rupee, high crude oil prices and liquidity concerns, while investors were also reluctant to make fresh bets ahead of RBI policy meeting next week, brokers said. 

Selling took hold at the start of October futures and options (F&O) series in the derivatives segment. 

Both the key indices recorded their fourth straight weekly fall. The Sensex lost 614.46 points, or 1.67 per cent and the Nifty dropped 212.65 points, or 1.91 per cent, this week. 

Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 186.69 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 552.44 crore Thursday, according to provisional data. 

Selloff in the NBFC space continued unabated, with PNB Housing Finance losing 4.46 per cent, Indiabulls Housing Finance 8.91 per cent and Dewan Housing Finance 5.08 per cent. 

Auto stocks too faced selling pressure ahead of release of monthly sales data. Continuing its slide, Yes Bank lost the most among the Sensex constituents, crashing 9.72 per cent. 

The private sector lender's shares have been under pressure after the RBI last week curtailed the term of its MD and CEO Rana Kapoor. 

Most metal and mining stocks came under heavy selling pressure. The BSE Metal index tanked 5.01 per cent, with all its constituents ending in the red. 

Among other sectoral indices, realty dropped 4.85 per cent, telecom 4.01 per cent. Oil & gas and banking indices managed to end in the positive zone.  

Broader markets too fell in tandem with the benchmarks, with the BSE small-cap index plunging 3.41 per cent and mid-cap gauge losing 1.61 per cent.