Investors in wait n watch mode ahead of monetary policy
Sensex, Nifty fell 0.30% on selling in oil & gas and banking shares; RIL, HDFC Bank in red
Mumbai: Equity market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended lower on Tuesday amid selling in oil & gas and banking shares ahead of the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy announcement. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 308.47 points or 0.38 per cent to close at 80,710.25. During the day, it declined 464.32 points or 0.57 per cent to hit an intraday low of 80,554.40. The broader NSE Nifty fell 73.20 points or 0.30 per cent to close at 24,649.55. During the session, it slipped by 132.45 points or 0.53 per cent to 24,590.30.
“Despite positive global cues, domestic markets remained rangebound in negative territory. Oil & gas stocks led the decline amid concerns about future import restrictions on Russian oil. Weakness persisted on Pharma and IT stocks which are among the largest exporters to the US. Sentiment was also weighed by INR depreciation. In contrast, auto stocks continue to gain traction from July volumes,” said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Investments.
Among sectoral indices, Oil & Gas fell by 0.96 per cent, Energy by (0.74 per cent), FMCG by (0.61 per cent), Services and Focussed IT by (0.59 per cent each), IT and Realty by (0.52 per cent each) and Healthcare by (0.48 per cent).
Auto, Power, Capital Goods, Commodities, Industrials, Consumer Durables, Metal and Telecommunication were the only gainers.
“Investors are now awaiting the upcoming RBI policy decision, where market has marginal expectations of a rate cut, in the near-term. Currently, the preferences of investors are for domestic consumption-driven stocks and sectors holding limited volatility to external factors,” Nair added.
According to Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research at Religare Broking, “lingering uncertainty over the tariff situation, following recent statements from the US President, along with a lack of major positive surprises from the earnings season, has been weighing on market sentiment.”
Among Sensex shares, Adani Ports, Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Eternal, BEL, HDFC Bank, Power Grid, ITC and Sun Pharmaceutical were the major laggards. However, Titan, Maruti, Trent, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, L&T, HCL Technologies and NTPC were among the gainers. The BSE smallcap gauge went lower by 0.27 per cent and the midcap index by 0.14 per cent.
The RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra-headed rate-setting panel started the three-day deliberations to decide the next bi-monthly monetary policy on Monday.
