Geo-political tensions, foreign fund outflows drag equity markets lower (Roundup)

Rising geo-political tension in East Asia along with foreign fund outflows and upcoming derivatives expiry dragged the key Indian equity indices -- the NSE Nifty50 and the BSE Sensex -- to close deep in the red on Tuesday.

The two key indices closed at their lowest levels in a week's time as heavy selling pressure in banking, consumer durables and capital goods stocks weighed on markets' sentiments and spanned four consecutive sessions of gains.

Consequently, the wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 9,796.05 points -- down 116.75 points or 1.18 per cent.

Similarly, the 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE closed in the red. It opened at 31,724.84 points, closed at 31,388.39 points -- down 362.43 points or 1.14 per cent from Monday's close at 31,750.82 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 31,739.80 points and a low of 31,360.81 points during the intra-day trade.

Investors' risk-taking appetite got eroded amid geo-political tensions in the Korean peninsula.

"Markets corrected sharply on Tuesday after a weak opening. The main indices lost over one per cent as weak European and Asian markets weighed on the market sentiments," Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS.

"The Sensex and Nifty hit one-week lows and all the major sectoral indices on the BSE closed in the red. Major Asian markets have ended on a negative note, barring the Shanghai index. European indices like FTSE 100, DAX and CAC 40 also traded lower."

According to market observers, Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, concerns of heavy floods in the financial capital and the selling by FIIs in equities over the past one month "ensured that risk appetite was down to a trickle, especially as Asian markets were in a sea of red following North Korea threats".

"The speeding process of NPA resolution may provide some respite to the market ahead of the F&O expiry, after it managed to hold the crucial 60 DMA level," James said.

On the currency front, the Indian rupee weakened by 11 paise to 64.02 to a US dollar from its previous close at 63.91.

In investments, provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold scrip worth Rs 1,459.64 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased stocks worth Rs 1,391.33 crore.

"The selling pressure was broad-based with all the sectoral indices in the red," said Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls.

"Banking, IT, Pharma and FMCG stocks led the sell off. Coal India, HDFC, Sun Pharma and Hindalco were down over 2 per cent."

Sector-wise, all the 19 sub-indices of the BSE ended in the red, led by the S&P BSE banking index, which plunged by 290.54 points, followed by the S&P BSE consumer durables index, down 258.72 points and the capital goods index which edged-lower by 187.72 points.

The lone Sensex gainer on Tuesday was: Wipro, up 0.02 per cent at Rs 290.95.

On the other hand, major Sensex losers were: NTPC, down 2.80 per cent at Rs 168.50; Tata Motors (DVR), down 2.57 per cent at Rs 219.85; Sun Pharma, down 2.35 per cent at Rs 481.15; HDFC, down 2.20 per cent at Rs 1,727.85; and Reliance Industries, down 2.17 per cent at Rs 1,531.75.

--IANS

rv/dg