Sensex closes at over two-week low on global headwinds

Domestic equities stayed depressed for the second straight day today with the benchmark BSE Sensex dropping 43 points to close at its lowest level in more than two weeks as renewed concerns over the health of Chinese economy continued to batter global stocks.
Earlier, the market opened in the green amid across-the- board value-buying in realty, power and oil&gas stocks.
However, equities later pared gains on continued sell-off in Asian and European markets, which fell for the second day on Chinese concerns and tensions in the Middle East.
Also, caution ahead of the third quarter earnings starting next week kept the market range-bound.

"Volatility continued to plague markets as key benchmark indices oscillated between negative and the positive territory, following yesterday's sell-off in global markets," said Shreyash Devalkar Fund Manager, Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.
Good bouts of buying was seen in metal, oil&gas, realty, utilities and consumer durable segments, but was let down by selling as market players preferred to stay on the sidelines.

The 30-share BSE Sensex resumed higher at 25,744.70 and advanced to the day's high of 25,766.76. However, after swinging between gains and losses, it finally settled 43.01 points or 0.17 per cent down at 25,580.34 -- its lowest close since December 18 when it had closed at 25,519.22.

The gauge had plunged by 537.55 points on the first day of the week.
The NSE Nifty after recapturing the 7,800-mark in early trade to touch a high of 7,831.20 concluded 6.65 points or 0.09 per cent down at 7,784.65.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley statement on more private investment in railways and airport sectors also did not provide any support.
Coal India was the worst Sensex performer by tumbling 1.35 per cent, followed by SBI at 1.22 per cent.
On the other side of the spectrum, Tata Steel, GAIL, Asian Paints, ONGC, RIL, BHEL and ICICI Bank provided some relief.

Turing to the local market, 22 scrips out of the 30-share
Sensex pack ended higher.
Major gainers were Lupin (9.04 pc), Axis Bank (4.40 pc), Cipla (3.58 pc), Tata Steel (3.47 pc), Tata Motors (3.47 pc), Dr Reddy's (3.38 pc), SBI (3.16 pc), Sun Pharma (2.91 pc), Hero MotoCorp (2.69 pc), ICICI Bank (2.52 pc), BHEL (2.51 pc), Bajaj Auto (2.05 pc), M&M (1.73 pc), HUL (1.49 pc), Coal India (1.48 pc) and HDFC (1.47 pc).
However, GAIL India dropped by 3.62 per cent, Maruti 1.86 per cent, Adani Ports 1.58 per cent and NTPC 1.03 per cent.
Among S&P BSE sectoral and industrials indexes, metal rose by 3.37 per cent, healthcare (3.37 pc), bankex (2.11 pc), finance (1.87 pc), telecom (1.60 pc), consumer durable (1.14 pc) and industrial (1.22 pc).

In broader markets, mid-cap and small-cap indexes ended 1.90 per cent and 1.21 per cent higher, respectively.
The market breadth turned positive as 1,620 shares ended higher, 1,016 closed lower while 135 ruled steady. The total turnover rose to Rs 2,853.97 crore from Rs 2,742.06 crore yesterday.