The markets close in the red to extend the seven day losses with the Sensex down 74 points at 18,460 while the Nifty shed 27 points to close at 5,537
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(Updated at 1441 hrs)
After a brief stint in the green, the Sensex has slipped into the negative on the back of selling pressure seen in IT and Auto space. The BSE benchmark index is up 65 points at 18,472 while the Nifty lost 28 points at 5,538. In the broader markets, the smallcap and the midcap indices are down 0.5% each continuing to underperform the Sensex which is down 0.3%
After closing at a six week low yesterday, the markets opened in the negative tracking weak Asian peers and as investors digested 50 bps rate hike which continued to weigh on all the rate sensitice sectors like banking, auto and realty space. This saw the Sensex slipping into the day's low of 18,339. However as the day progressed investors got into some bottom fishing which saw some recovery in the banking space. Later in the afternoon trades, as OMCs picked pace and market heavyweight, Reliance Industries improved the Sensex broke into the green territory for the first time in the day's trade.
Among the sectoral indices, IT index down nearly 1% lead the losses followed by Auto, Health Care and Metal indices. However, Oil & Gas index gaining nearly 2% followed by PSU up 1% are the top gainers in the afternoon trades.The movers in the Oil & Gas space are ONGC up 4% followed by BPCL, Oil India and HPCL gaining between 2-3%
Apart from Oil & Gas scrips, the top gainers among the Sensex stocks are SBI, HDFC Bank and Hindustan Unilever gaining 1% each followed by Sterlite Industries, BHEL and L&T adding 0.6% each.
Among the top losers are Bajaj Auto and Hero Honda down 3%, HDFC, Jindal Steel and Tata Steel losing 2% each.
The market breadth was negative. Of the total 2848 scrips traded on the BSE, 01740 scrips have declined while 1022 have advanced.