Sensex, Nifty slide for 4th day; IT, banking shares drop

Mumbai : Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty gave up early gains to close lower for a fourth straight session on Thursday due to selling in IT and banking shares amid weak global equities.

The 30-share BSE benchmark settled 98 points or 0.18 per cent lower at 53,416.15. During the day, it hit a high of 53,861.28 and a low of 53,163.77.

The broader NSE Nifty also pared initial gains and ended 28 points or 0.18 per cent down to settle at 15,938.65.

Among the Sensex constituents, Axis Bank declined the most by 1.74 per cent. HCL Technologies, State Bank of India, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Wipro, UltraTech Cement and ITC were the major laggards.

Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Lab, Maruti Suzuki India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan and Reliance Industries were among the gainers.

In Asia, markets in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul ended lower, while Tokyo settled in the green.

Equity markets in Europe were trading lower during mid-session deals. The US markets had ended lower on Wednesday.

"Tracking weak cues in global markets, Indian indices gave away their initial gains amid concerns over higher-than-expected US inflation data. Investors are increasingly expecting the Fed to carry out a minimum 75bps rate hike this month in order to combat high inflation.

"On the domestic front, India’s WPI inflation moderated in June although it remains at elevated levels," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

The wholesale price-based inflation eased to a three-month low of 15.18 per cent in June on a sharp decline in the prices of minerals, but food articles continued to remain costly.

June is the 15th consecutive month when the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation remained in double digit.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.97 per cent to USD 97.61 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday, offloading shares worth Rs 2,839.52 crore, as per exchange data.