Sensex falls 126 pts as Fed hikes rate

Equities slipped back into the red today after a three-day winning run as investors turned cautious following US Federal Reserve's rate hike. The BSE 30-share Sensex fell by 126.09, or 0.35 percent to quote at 35,613.07 in early trade, with IT, PSU, oil and gas, teck, banking and realty indices trading in the negative zone. The Sensex had gained 295.49 points in the last three sessions. The NSE Nifty too slipped by 35.95 points, or 0.33 percent, to 10,820.75.

Brokers said caution prevailed after the US Fed raised its key interest rate by 0.25 percent yesterday, the second increase of the year, and signaled two more hikes in 2018 and four in 2019. Laggards included Wipro, Axis Bank, TCS, NTPC, SBI, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Adani Ports, Coal India, Asian Paints, Kotak Bank, IndusInd Bank, Hero MotoCorp, and L&T, falling by up to 1.08 percent.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 70.77 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 486.78 crore yesterday, as per provisional data. In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.75 percent, Japan's Nikkei fell 0.47 percent and Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.28 percent in early deals today. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.47 percent lower in yesterday's trade.