Mumbai: Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty50 turned cautious today as
investors await key macroeconomic data due later in the day, amid a weak
trend
in other Asian markets.
Also, sustained capital outflows and weakening rupee
against the US dollar weighed on sentiments.
The 30-share index slumped 258.09 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 34,088.30. It had lost nearly 100 points in the
previous session. All sectoral indices were trading in the negative territory led by fall in metals, PSU and banking stocks.
The broader Nifty50 slipped below the 10,500-mark to
10,466.95, down 87.35 points, or 0.82 per cent.
Unwinding of positions in blue-chip stocks by
investors ahead of index of industrial production (IIP)
numbers for February and December quarter GDP growth numbers, to be
released after market hours today, weighed on stocks, brokers said.
Meanwhile, Asian stocks fell across the board following a
sharp pullback in US equities after US Fed chair Jerome Powell revived
worries about a sharp increase in interest rates. A weaker-than-expected
economic data from China and Japan also dampened market sentiment.
Major losers were ICICI Bank, SBI, Yes Bank, Tata Steel, Axis
Bank, NTPC, M&M, Coal India, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors, Power Grid,
Adani Ports, Maruti Suzuki and L&T.
Shares of Punjab National Bank slumped over 6 per cent and fell to a 20-month low.
Gitanjali Gems hit its lower circuit after falling nearly 5 per cent to Rs 21.35.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net of
Rs 906.86 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought
shares worth a net Rs 1,046.67 crore yesterday, provisional data showed.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.43 per cent, China's
Shanghai Composite was down 1.13 per cent while Japan's Nikkei drifted lower by 0.36 per cent.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.16 per cent lower yesterday.
PTI
