Sensex ends 418 points lower on global growth woes; Rupee breaches 68-mark

Markets tracked a sell-off in global equities with RIL leading the decline

Markets ended at fresh 52-week closing lows on Wednesday after slump in crude oil prices and weak growth from China renewed fears of a global growth slowdown.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended down 418 points at 24,062 and the Nifty50 closed 126 points lower at 7,309.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ended down 2% each. Market breadth ended negative with 2,085 losers and 589 gainers on the BSE.

"Markets continue to remain under the overhang of a severe sell-off in global equities and where any sense of a bottom would only be realised when there is stability in the Chinese markets. Our current earnings season does not leave much scope for taking contrarian bets as positive surprises are likely to be few and far between. What's made it worse for the broader market (mid-caps, small-caps) is the probable exit of the retail investor after nearly 14 months of support. Further, with the IMF downgrading its global GDP growth forecast for 2016 to 3.4% and keeping China well below 7% and with oil still fighting shy of a bottom global cues remain uncertain," said Tirthankar Patnaik, India Strategist at Mizuho Bank.

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee touched a 28-month low and was trading at 68.04 to the dollar in intra-day trade after falling global crude oil prices sparked off global growth concerns.

Crude oil prices fell further on concerns of oversupplies while resumption of exports from Iran also weighed on sentiment. Nymex crude futures were trading below $28 a barrel while Brent crude futures were trading tad above $28 a barrel.

SECTORS & STOCKS

All sectoral indices ended in the red. The BSE Metal index was the top loser down 3% tracking weakness in China followed by Bankex, Capital Goods, Power and Realty indices among others.

Of the 30 Sensex stocks only Bajaj Auto, Wipro and Hero MotoCorp ended with marginal gains.

Index heavweight Reliance Industries which had gained in the run-up to its third quarter earnings witnessed profit taking despite robust third quarter earnings. The stock ended down 3.8% contributing the most to the market decline.

Banks which are a proxy to the economy continued to witness selling pressure. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI ended down 1.8%-5.1% each. Axis Bank ended down 1% ahead of its results later today. PNB, Bank of Baroda ended down 3.2-5.8% each.

L&T recovered from its day's low to end down 0.9%. The company today announced that the heavy civil infrastructure business along with its joint venture partner, Daewoo E&C of South Korea, has won a major order worth Rs 3,115 crore from the Bihar State Road Development Corporation.

Other Sensex losers include, Tata Motors, Infosys, ITC, HDFC and Adani Ports among others.

Among other shares, Aditya Birla Nuvo ended down at Rs 883 after the stock turned today ex-scheme of arrangement today. In May last year, Aditya Birla Nuvo announced merger of all its branded apparel businesses into one entity, Pantaloons Fashion & Retail now known as Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail. Under the scheme of arrangement, the apparel businesses of group holding company Aditya Birla Nuvo (ABNL) and of another group firm Madura Garments Lifestyle Retail would be demerged into listed firm Pantaloons Fashion & Retail (PFRL).

BASF ended down 4.3%, after hitting its 52-week low, as the specialty chemicals reported a higher net loss of Rs 106 crore for the third quarter ended December 2015 (Q3FY16) as against loss of Rs 40 crore in the same quarter last year.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks retreated after gaining in the previous session as further slide in global crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiment. US crude futures fell below $28 per barrel while Brent crude was trading below $29 a barrel.Chinese stocks which had surged over 3% in the previous session was trading with marginal losses. Among other markets in the region, Nikkei was down 2.2%, Hang Seng eased 3% while Straits Times was down nearly 2%.

European shares also witnessed a sell-off tracking the sharp slide in global crude oil prices and concerns over global economy. Major stock indices like the DAX, CAC-40 and FTSE were down over 2.8%-3.5% each.

NIIT ended up 4% in an  otherwise weak market after the company today reported 12% Year-on-Year (YoY) jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 13.7 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2015 (Q3FY16).