Sensex closes down 30 points, logs biggest weekly fall in a month

Mumbai: Sandwiched in a tight range, the Sensex closed down for the third day as prospects of more US interest rate hikes next year continue to keep investors on edge.

For the week, Sensex lost 257.62 points, or 0.96 %, and the NSE Nifty 122.30 points, or 1.48%. The weekly decline is the biggest since 18 November, when the Sensex registered a fall of 668.58 points and the Nifty 222.20 points.

The dollar soared to a near 14-year high against the euro overseas, which quickened capital flight. Rising oil prices, the prevailing cash crunch in the wake of demonetisation and its trickle-down effect on corporate performance and fears of economic slowdown made investors shaky, brokers said.

The 30-share index settled moderately lower by 29.51 points, or 0.11%, at 26,489.56. It hit the day’s high of 26,594.55 and a low of 26,455.21. The gauge had lost 178.75 points in the previous two sessions. Volume remained low as participants preferred to stay near the fence in absence of any positive cues.

Nifty’s 50-issue NSE fell 14.15 points, or 0.17%, to 8,139.45 at the close. Intra-day, it moved between 8,178.70 and 8,127.45. Bharti Airtel fell the most in the Sensex group by dropping 2.67% followed by ONGC (2.30%).

Aurobindo Pharma dropped 0.55% following news reports that 20 US states have filed a lawsuit against the company alleging price manipulation of two drugs. Others such as Adani Ports, ICICI Bank, ITC, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, Wipro, Coal India, Lupin, Bajaj Auto, GAIL, NTPC and Dr Reddy’s too retreated.

But Tata Motors, Cipla, Infosys and TCS were among a few notable gainers. In the 30-share Sensex chart, 19 ended lower while 11 finished higher. The BSE metal counter saw maximum selling, plunging 1.58 %, followed by infrastructure (1%).

Consumer durables and IT rose up to 0.82%. Broader markets too remained lacklustre, with small-cap and mid-cap indices ending lower by 0.25% and 0.04%, respectively.

Foreign funds net sold shares worth Rs611.97 crore on Thursday, showed provisional data. Other Asian shares closed mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.18% while Japan’s Nikkei surged 0.66% and Shanghai Composite rose 0.17%. Europe too was off to a mixed start as investors continued to digest the Federal Reserve’s rate hike. London’s FTSE was down 0.05% and France’ Paris fell 0.01 %. However, Frankfurt gained 0.09%.