Sensex slips, crude's fall takes toll

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's stock markets fell on Wednesday, on track to close down for a third consecutive session as crude oil prices resumed their slide on rising stocks and oversupply worries.

Asian shares tumbled on Wednesday as oil prices dropped for a third day, prompting investors to seek shelter in safe-haven assets and lifting bonds and gold to multi-month highs.

But given the recent fall in the domestic share prices, traders view it as a buying opportunity and feel India will outperform once current bout of selling is done.

"This is pure global risk off trade. Nifty is trading at very attractive valuations and falling much lesser than other EM indices," said Samrat Dasgupta, CEO of Esquire Capital Investment Advisors.

 

"Once the global markets stabilize, India will see outsized gains as well. Company results have been in-line barring a few disappointments and macros continue to improve," he added.

The broader Nifty dropped as much as 1.25 percent during the session, in line with other Asian indexes.

The benchmark BSE Sensex fell as much as 1.19 percent.

Among the stocks that fell, Cairn India slipped 3.2 percent as it felt the brunt of falling crude, while other bluechips L&T , Reliance Industries each lost more than 2 percent.

Crompton Greaves slumped on earnings disappointment, prompting at least two brokerages to suspend their coverage of the stock.

Among the few that gained, Hindustan Unilever rose 2.2 percent as a defensive play, Sun Pharma rose 1.7 percent after it launched a generic version of the cancer drug Gleevec in the United States. (http://bit.ly/1KWdUsd)

(Reporting by Manoj Rawal; Editing by Anand Basu)