Sensex, Nifty fall for second day; ONGC, Sun Pharma, Power Grid top losers

Domestic indices fell for the second day on Thursday in a row as global investor sentiment remained feeble on concerns of accelerating inflation. Most Asian markets traded weak after the overnight fall in the US markets.

The minutes of the US Federal Reserve meeting spooked investors as well, as it revealed that some Fed officials were open to discussing tapering of the US bond buying programme. The rout in the cryptocurrencies market also weighed on sentiment.

On Thursday, the Sensex ended 338 points, or 0.7 per cent lower at 49,565, the Nifty fell 124 points, or 0.83 per cent, to close at 14,906. Earlier this week, the Nifty had managed to top the 15,000-mark for the first time in over two months.

“Wall Street has extended its losses as US treasury yield and dollar index jumped post the release of minutes of Fed meeting, which signaled a plausible slowdown in bond buying at some point, a shift in policy in the future, which will have an implication on emerging markets,” said Vinod Nair, head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Overall market breadth re­mained mixed with 1,610 stocks advancing and 1,496 declining on the BSE. The mid- and small-cap indices continued to outperform large-caps.

Among the Sensex components, ONGC, Sun Pharma and Power Grid fell the most, declining over 2 per cent each, while Mahindra and Mahindra rose 2.4 per cent, followed by IndusInd bank, which rose 0.9 per cent.