Sensex, Nifty fall for 3rd day amid caution ahead of inflation data

Mumbai: Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty declined for a third straight day on Thursday as investors turned cautious ahead of release of key inflation and industrial production data.

In a choppy trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 147.47 points or 0.25 per cent to settle at 59,958.03 as 15 of its constituents ended with losses. During the day, it declined 473.18 points or 0.78 per cent to 59,632.32.

The broader NSE Nifty fell 37.50 points or 0.21 per cent to close at 17,858.20.

Sensex lost 789 points or 1.3 per cent while Nifty declined by 243 points or 1.58 per cent to trade below the 18,000 level in three sessions to Thursday.

From the Sensex pack, Reliance Industries fell the most by 2.11 per cent. Axis Bank dropped 1.54 per cent, Tata Motors 1.4 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank by 1.26 per cent, Bharti Airtel 1.12 per cent and Bajaj Finserv by 0.87 per cent. Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel and ITC were among the major laggards.

UltraTech Cement rose the most by 1.81 per cent, Larsen & Toubro by 1.66 per cent, and HCL Technologies 1.62 per cent. Maruti, Nestle and HDFC were among the major winners.

Infosys, which declared its results after market hours, rose by 0.62 per cent. Infosys posted a 13.4 per cent year-on-year increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 6,586 crore for the December quarter and raised its full year revenue guidance to 16-16.5 per cent.

"The domestic market continued to remain volatile as investors eagerly awaited the earnings of other IT majors after a cautious warning from TCS. FIIs continue to dump Indian equities in search of cheaper investment avenues. Uncertainties over upcoming inflation numbers at home and the US kept the domestic market unstable, even as western peers stayed optimistic," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Markets traded volatile and ended marginally lower on the weekly expiry day. After the flat start, the tone was negative for most of the session however rebound in the final hours trimmed the losses, Ajit Mishra, VP - Technical Research, Religare Broking said.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge dipped 0.24 per cent and smallcap index went lower by 0.02 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, oil & gas declined 1.01 per cent, energy went lower by 0.95 per cent, telecommunication (0.79 per cent), bankex (0.53 per cent), metal (0.20 per cent) and financial services (0.17 per cent).

Commodities, industrials, IT, utilities, auto, capital goods and teck were among the winners.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul, Tokyo Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the green.

Equity exchanges in Europe were trading higher in mid-session deals. Markets in the US ended in the positive territory on Wednesday.

"The US inflation data expected tonight will be market moving," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

International oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.41 per cent to USD 83.01 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 3,208.15 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.