Mumbai Aug 10 (IANS) The key Indian equity indices on Thursday tumbled for the fourth consecutive session as negative global cues a weak rupee and heavy selling pressure in automobile healthcare and capital goods stocks hampered investors sentiments.
The key indices were pulled down by individual index heavyweights like Tata Motors Dr. Reddy s Lab Sun Pharma and Adani Ports among others which faced intense selling pressure.
According to market observers volatility was witnessed in the equity markets during the day s trade with the NSE Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) slipping over 100 points falling below the psychologically important 9 800-level for the first time since July 18.
However the NSE Nifty50 recovered slightly to close lower by 87.80 points or 0.89 per cent at 9 820.25 points.
The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE too plunged over 300 points intra-day.
The Sensex which opened at 31 750.73 points closed at 31 531.33 points -- down 266.51 points or 0.84 per cent from its previous close at 31 797.84 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 31 756.27 points and a low of 31 422.80 points during the intra-day trade.
The BSE market breadth heavily favoured bears -- with 2 274 declines and 303 advances.
In terms of the broader markets the S&P BSE mid-cap index declined by 2.64 per cent and the small-cap index by 3.60 per cent. Both the indices crashed more than 5 per cent during the last three sessions.
"Markets corrected further on Thursday as selling intensified in the last hour of trade. It was the fourth consecutive session of losses as Nifty closed at almost its one-month lows " Deepak Jasani Head of Retail Research HDFC Securities told IANS.
"The indices ended lower led by losses in pharma auto and banking stocks. Individual stocks also dragged the sentiment on poor June-quarter result show " Jasani added.
On the currency front the rupee weakened by 25 paise to close at 64.08-09 to a US dollar from its previous close at 63.83-84.
According to Dhruv Desai Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls global sentiment was largely weak with Asian stocks falling as investors fretted about the simmering tensions between the United States and North Korea.
"Tata Motors shares fell over 8 per cent to their lowest in over a year after the company s 42 per cent rise in June-quarter profit helped by a one-off gain related to changes to Jaguar Land Rover s pension plans failed to please investors " Desai told IANS.
"Dr. Reddy s Labs shares plunged 5 per cent after the firm said its Bachupally manufacturing unit (in Hyderabad) has not been renewed by the German regulator post-inspection and hence the unit won t be able to dispatch products to European Union countries until the next inspection dates " added Desai.
All the sub-indices on the BSE ended in the red barring the IT index which rose by 56.73 points and the Teck index which was up 7.63 points.
The S&P BSE automobile index tumbled by 679.29 points followed by the healthcare index by 415.80 points and the capital goods index by 283.65 points.
Major Sensex gainers on Thursday were: Infosys up 1.35 per cent at Rs 982.50; Wipro up 0.44 per cent at Rs 288; Tata Consultancy Services up 0.37 per cent at Rs 2 511.25; Larsen and Toubro up 0.30 per cent at Rs 1 159.50; and Mahindra and Mahindra up 0.26 per cent at Rs 1 395.
Major Sensex losers were: Tata Motors (DVR) down 9.26 per cent at Rs 219.90; Tata Motors down 8.60 per cent at Rs 380.90; Dr. Reddy s Lab down 4.77 per cent at Rs 1 948.95; Sun Pharma down 3.08 per cent at Rs 460.15; and Adani Ports down 2.66 per cent at Rs 386.40.
--IANS
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