Sensex falls 150 points after a two-day uptrend, Asian peers subdue sentiments

After a two-day gaining streak, Indian stock markets declined in early morning trade taking cues from its Asian peers, with the benchmark Sensex trading almost 150 points down and the NSE Nifty falling 0.26 per cent from its previous close. Banking, oil and gas, and metals among other sectoral indices of the BSE were trading with losses. Out of 1,740 trading companies, 811 were in advances and 850 were in declining trend indicating a bearish sentiment in the market.

The Sensex fell around 92.86 points to trade at 35,370.22 points. On the National Stock Exchange, the NSE Nifty traded at 10,740.75 points — down 27.60 points on Friday. On the BSE, shares of Power Grid and ICICI Bank fell over 1 per cent each, while IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and HDFC added to the downward trajectory of the Sensex. Dr. Reddy’s Lab, Sun Pharma, Tata Motors and TCS led the gainers on the BSE with gains of over 1 per cent. On the NSE, all sectoral indices barring Nifty IT, Nifty media and Nifty pharma, traded in the red with the Nifty Bank index down 0.61 per cent.

On Friday, uncertainty ahead of a crucial meet of global leaders, coupled with Europe’s huge monetary stimulus coming to an end, hampered Asian markets’ risk-appetite which retreated from two-two and a half month highs, Reuters reported. Earlier on Thursday, the S&P and Nasdaq slipped as the technology sector snapped a rally. Eyes were on global trade tensions as well as the US Federal Reserve and European central bank meetings slated for next week. On the Wall Street, the S&P 500 index lost 1.98 points, while the Dow Jones industrial average picked up 95.02 points, led by big gains in McDonald’s and Chevron shares. The Nasdaq composite slumped 54.17 points.

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National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE)