Sensex, Nifty slide for a fourth straight session; IT, banking shares drop

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty gave up early gains to close lower for a fourth straight session on Thursday due to selling in IT and banking shares amid weak global equities.

The 30-share BSE benchmark settled 98 points or 0.18 per cent lower at 53,416.15. During the day, it hit a high of 53,861.28 and a low of 53,163.77.

The broader NSE Nifty also pared initial gains and ended 28 points or 0.18 per cent down to settle at 15,938.65.

Among the Sensex constituents, Axis Bank declined the most by 1.74 per cent. HCL Technologies, State Bank of India, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Wipro, UltraTech Cement and ITC were the major laggards.

Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Lab, Maruti Suzuki India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan and Reliance Industries were among the gainers.

Energy stocks gained after reports said that the government may review the windfall tax on petrol and diesel exports after a sharp decline in crude oil prices.

Reliance Industries rose by 0.83 per cent helping the index restrict losses.

"Tracking weak cues in global markets, Indian indices gave away their initial gains amid concerns over higher-than-expected US inflation data. Investors are increasingly expecting the Fed to carry out a minimum 75bps rate hike this month in order to combat high inflation.

"On the domestic front, India's WPI inflation moderated in June although it remains at elevated levels," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

The wholesale price-based inflation eased to a three-month low of 15.18 per cent in June on a sharp decline in the prices of minerals, but food articles continued to remain costly.

June is the 15th consecutive month when the wholesale price index-based inflation remained double-digit.

"Markets remained volatile on the weekly expiry day and settled with a marginal cut. After the initial uptick, the benchmark drifted lower and traded with a negative bias for most of the session. However, a rebound in select index majors in the final hour trimmed some losses. Besides global headwinds, domestic cues are also portraying a mixed picture," said Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge declined 0.56 per cent, while midcap dipped 0.40 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, IT fell by 1.44 per cent, and teck by 1.14 per cent while basic materials (0.71 per cent), telecom (0.63 per cent), metal (0.48 per cent) and bank (0.43 per cent) were the major laggards.

Energy, healthcare, consumer durables, oil & gas and power were among the winners.

In Asia, markets in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul ended lower, while Tokyo settled in the green.

Equity markets in Europe were trading lower during mid-session deals. The US markets had ended lower on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.97 per cent to USD 97.61 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors turned net buyers in the capital market on Thursday, buying shares worth Rs 309.06 crore on net basis, as per exchange data.

The rupee, however, slid to all-time low of 79.99 against the US dollar due to concerns over inflation and possible rate hikes by central banks.