Markets close down for the second consecutive day on profit-booking and conflicting global signals

Due to profit-booking in several banking and auto sectors, along with mixed global market trends and a withdrawal of foreign capital, the equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended the day down on Wednesday for the second consecutive session.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 73,876.82, down 27.09 points, or 0.04 percent. The index fluctuated during the day, peaking at 74,151.21 and falling to 73,757.23.

At 22,434.65, the NSE Nifty fell 18.65 points, or 0.08 percent, as 30 constituents of the benchmark, which consists of 50 shares, ended down.

Negative global signals caused the Nifty to start weakly and be volatile throughout the day, according to Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities.

He said that the index may go in the direction of 22,650. “The lower end of 22,350 is where support is located.”

Up to 16 Sensex stocks ended the day lower than when they started, with the biggest laggards being JSW Steel, Titan, Bajaj Finserve, IndusInd Bank, Nestle India, and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Selling pressure also caused index majors Reliance, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti, and Tata Steel to drop.

NTPC, TCS, Tech Mahindra, and Bajaj Finance, on the other hand, defied the trend and had positive day-ending totals. Defying the trend were Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Tata Motors.

The BSE MidCap had a 0.63 percent increase, the smallcap index saw a 1.19 percent rise, while the largecap saw a minor 0.07 percent decline.

Asian markets were trading down, with the Nikkei 225 in Japan and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong both suffering significant losses of 1.22 and 0.97 percent, respectively. The Shanghai Composite of China was down 0.18 percent at the time of trade.

The DAX of Germany and the CAC 40 of France were rising on European markets, while the FTSE 100 of London was falling. Tuesday’s US market close was negative.

According to exchange statistics, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded stocks worth Rs 1,622.69 crore on Tuesday.

The benchmark for world oil, Brent crude, increased by 0.31 percent to USD 88.20 a barrel.

The benchmark BSE Sensex fell by 110.64 points, or 0.15 percent, on Tuesday, ending at 73,903.91. At 22,453.30, the NSE Nifty finished 8.70 points, or 0.04 percent, down.