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Benchmark indices ended lower for the fourth straight session as financials extended losses after the central bank maintained status quo on key rates and capital goods stocks on sluggish core sector growth.
The 30-share Sensex ended down 117 points at 28,883 and the 50-share Nifty closed down 33 points at 8,724.
In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap index, down 0.2 % and Smallcap index closing flat performed marginally better than the front-liners. Market breadth in BSE ended negative with 1,548 declines against 1,352 advances.
On the macro-economic front, annual growth in production of the eight key infrastructure industries declined to a three-month low of 2.4 per cent in December, compared with 6.7 per cent the previous month and four per cent in December 2013. This is likely to have a negative impact on the industrial growth numbers for the month, as these industries have a weight of 38 per cent on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
The HSBC Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by Markit, rising to 52.4 in January from 51.1 in December showed that growth among India's services firms has picked up pace.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors continue to remain net sellers to the tune of Rs 264 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
Buzzing Stocks
8 out of the 12 sectoral indices of BSE ended in red. BSE Capita Goods index, down 1.8%, was the top loser followed by BSE Bankex, down 1.2% and BSE Consumer Durables index down 1.1%. On the gaining side, BSE Metal emerged as the top gainer and surged over 2% followed by BSE Realty and Healthcare indices which gained around 0.9% each.
ONGC extended its yesterday’s rally and higher by 2.4% on a rebound in crude oil prices. Crude oil has extended a rally that has pushed up prices by 20% in the past four trading sessions. According to media reports, the government is working out the subsidy sharing formula and expediting divestment of its stake in ONGC.
Metal stocks ended firm in today’s session. Sesa Sterlite extended gains and was up 2.3% after global iron ore prices bounced back. Hindalco gained around 3.5% and Tata Steel was up 1.7%.
HDFC Bank ended flat after paring early gains. According to media reports, HDFC Bank is likely to raise Rs 10,000 crore from the market, especially overseas, in this month. Housing finance major, HDFC too has gained over 1%.
Banking shares extended losses for the second straight session after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan decided to leave repo rate unchanged at its credit policy meet yesterday.
Axis Bank declined around 4.7%, ICICI Bank was down around 0.8%, housing finance major HDFC ended lower by 0.6% and SBI was down 2.5%.
Shares of NTPC turned ex-dividend today for an interim dividend of Rs 0.75 per share for the year ending 31 March 2015. The stock was down nearly 1%.
Bharti Airtel declined over 1% ahead of its quarterly results due later today.
Capital Goods stocks like L&T and BHEL ended lower 1.9% and 3.8% each.
Among other shares, Panacea Biotec gained over 3% after being elected for the supply of Pentavalent Vaccine worth around Rs 83.52 crore by Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
