FII outflows keep pressure on mkts

Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex tanked 542 points to settle at a four-week low, while Nifty closed below the 19,400 mark, extending their losses for a third straight day on Thursday in tandem with a bearish trend in global markets following the US rating downgrade.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 542.10 points or 0.82 per cent to settle at a four-week low of 65,240.68. During the day, it slumped 819.7 points or 1.24 per cent to 64,963.08. The NSE Nifty declined below the 19,300 mark in intraday trade before paring some of the losses to close at 19,381.65, still down by 144.90 points or 0.74 per cent. It moved in a range of 19,537.65 to 19,296.45 in day trade. In three days of losses, Sensex plunged by around 1,287 points or 2.16 per cent while Nifty has tanked 372 points or 2.42 per cent.

“Global markets are still grappling with the impact of the US rating downgrade, with spiking bond yield and strengthening dollar index. In total, 23 Sensex stock dropped while seven advanced. The pharma sector managed to weather the storm thanks to its strong earnings outcome, while mid and small-cap stocks outperformed the benchmark index.

The domestic services PMI has surpassed market expectations, reaching a 13-year high due to a rise in new orders, particularly in international sales,” said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

“The recent drift in the global indices is putting pressure now and we expect the negative tone to continue,” said Ajit Mishra, SV-P (technical research), Religare Broking Ltd.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs1,877.84 crore, according to exchange data.