Sensex snaps two-session winning spell on rupee rout, F&O expiry

Snapping its two-session rising trend, the benchmark BSE Sensex on Thursday slumped 192 points to finish below 26,000 due to profit-booking on the last day of November contracts and a fragile rupee, which hit record low against the dollar.
 
The rupee plunged to a fresh life-time low of 68.86 (intra-day) against the greenback, surpassing its previous low of 68.85 on August 28, 2013. It ended the day at 68.73, down 17 paise, amid reports of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) selling dollars to stem the slide.
 
The Sensex resumed slightly lower at 26,049.14 and dropped further to 25,810.97, before closed at 25,860.17, showing a loss of 191.64 points or 0.74%. The index had gained 286.67 points, or 1.11%, in the previous two sessions.
 
The 50-share Nifty, too, dropped 67.80 points, or 0.84%, to close below the crucial 8,000-level to 7,965.50. It had gained 104.20 points, or 1.31%, in the past two sessions.
 
“Continued weakness in the rupee against the dollar, last hour of expiry square-off and the disruptions in the Rajya Sabha debate over demonetisation dragged the market,” said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
 
Foreign funds sold shares net Rs 1,023.12 crore on Wednesday, according to provisional figures issued by the stock exchanges.

 
Investors fear upbeat economic data have strengthened the case for a rate hike in the US, sparking capital outflows from emerging markets.
The US stock market will remain closed on Thursday (November 24), on account of Thanksgiving holiday.
 
Globally, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.30%, while Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.94%. Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.02%.
European shares, too, were trading mixed, with London’s FTSE falling 0.14%, while Paris CAC-30 gaining 0.15% in early deals. Frankfurt's DAX was up 
0.05%.
 
The BSE MidCap index provisionally fell 0.13%, while the small-cap index dropped 0.11%. A total of 20 scrips in the 30-share Sensex pack ended lower; the rest closed higher.

Major losers were Tata Motors (3.89%), Axis Bank (2.59%), Sun Pharma (2.49%), M&M (2.41%), Gail (2.18%), Adani Ports (2.07%), ICICI Bank (2.02%), NTPC (1.97%), Lupin (1.82%), Reliance (1.65%), HDFC Bank (1.52%) and Maruti (0.88%).

However, Power Grid rose by 1.92%, followed by Baja Auto 1.69%, Tata Steel 1.50%, TCS 1.38%, Infosys 1.33%, Hero MotoCorp 1.22% and SBI 1.14%.

Among BSE sectoral indices, Bankex fell 1.45%, followed by auto (1.34%), realty (1.25%), finance (1.11%), healthcare (1.03%), energy (0.92%), consumer durables (0.85%) and industrials (0.81%).

However, IT rose by 1.23% and Teck 0.73%.

Market breadth remained positive as 1,341 stocks ended higher, 1,215 finished in red while 168 ruled steady.

Total turnover on BSE stood at Rs 2,481.01 crore, lower than Rs 2,499.34 crore registered yesterday.