Stock Market Falls For 3rd Day: Sensex Sheds 542 Points, Nifty Around 19,380 On Weak Global Trends

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, Titan, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank, Nestle, UltraCemco, SBI were among the losers. Infosys, NTPC, Sun Pharma, Kotak Bank, JSW, PowerGrid emerged gainers

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday closed in the red for a third consecutive day, tracking bearish cues in global markets and continuous foreign fund outflows. The S&P BSE Sensex ended 542 points lower at 65,241. On the other hand, the Nifty50 sank 145 points 19,381. Both the indices hit intra-day lows of 64,963 and 19,296.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Titan, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank, Nestle, UltraCemco, SBI were among the losers. On the flip side, Infosys, NTPC, Sun Pharma, Kotak Bank, JSW, PowerGrid emerged gainers.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and Smallcap indices ended 0.14 per cent and 0.23 per cent higher, respectively.

Sectorwise, barring the Nifty Pharma and Media indices (up 1 per cent each), all other sectors ended in the red with the Nifty Realty index down 1.8 per cent.

Meanwhile, India's services sector growth touched a 13-year high in July as a substantial improvement in demand conditions and pick-up in international sales induced the strongest increase in new business and output, a monthly survey said on Thursday.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, and Hong Kong ended in the negative territory while Shanghai settled in the green. European markets were trading in the red. The US markets ended lower on Wednesday after Fitch Ratings cut the US government credit rating by one level.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,877.84 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.46 per cent to $82.82 a barrel.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE benchmark declined 676 points to settle at 65,782, while the Nifty tanked 207 points to close at 19,526.

Meanwhile, the rupee fell by 6 paise to settle at 82.73 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday on weak domestic equities and a stronger greenback in the overseas market. Sustained foreign fund outflows and firm crude oil prices further dented sentiments, forex traders said. At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 82.71 against the dollar and finally ended the day at 82.73 (provisional), registering a fall of 6 paise from its previous close.

During the session, the local unit touched a peak of 82.66 and hit the lowest level of 82.81. On Wednesday, the rupee had settled at 82.67 against the dollar. "US Dollar gained on safe-haven buying and upbeat jobs data. US ADP data released Wednesday was better-than-expected at 324,00 vs the forecast of 190,000, showing a strong jobs market," Anuj Choudhary - Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.