Losses add up for stocks, Sensex tumbles ahead of F&O expiry

Markets swung into weakness for the second day as the Sensex today closed just above 30,300 and the Nifty gave up control of 9,400 with no let-up in selling by foreign investors ahead of the derivatives expiry.
Global leads turned negative, giving investors jitters. While Moody's sovereign credit downgrade of China stoked fears about the lingering impact of the global slowdown, Tuesday's concert attack in the UK kept sentiment cloudy.
"The imminent release of the minutes from the US Federal Reserve's most recent meeting put investors on edge and injected a note of caution in the markets," said Karthikraj Lakshmanan, Senior Fund Manager - Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.

May futures and options contracts are set to expire tomorrow, which made participants wait and watch.
The 30-share Sensex ended lower by 63.61 points, or 0.21 per cent, at 30,301.64. The barometer had lost 205.72 points in the previous session.
The 50-share NSE Nifty regained the key 9,400-mark for some time, but failed to stay put and closed the day down 25.60 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 9,360.55.

The explosive border with Pakistan added to the concerns after the Indian Army carried out fire assaults across the Line of Control (LoC), traders said.
L&T saw a huge fall of 3.22 per cent, followed by Cipla 2.40 per cent. Dr Reddy's, Coal India, SBI and M&M fell by up to 2.24 per cent.

Lupin slid 1.71 per cent after the company's net profit fell 49.61 per cent for the quarter ended March 2017.
Tata Motors emerged as the big gainer by rising 4.30 per cent, largely riding on the stellar show by its British subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).
Gains in GAIL, Adani Ports, Hindustan Unilever and TCS cushioned the fall.
Mid-cap and small-cap stocks moved in tandem with the benchmark indices.
The BSE capital goods index bled the most, down 2.62 per cent, followed by metal (2.23 per cent), healthcare (1.94 per cent) and realty (1.87 per cent).
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have been net sellers in the past five straight sessions and sold shares worth a net Rs 400.53 crore yesterday, according to provisional data.

Overseas, most Asian indices ended higher as investors looked forward to US Federal Reserve views on interest rate hike prospects and await an upcoming OPEC meeting widely expected to extend production cuts for nine months to March 2018. European shares were mixed.