Profit-booking continued at the bourses as weak domestic and global economic scenario kept investors on the sidelines. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), ITC, Reliance Industries, and Axis Bank contributed the most towards today's fall.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex ended at 40,239.88 level, down 247.55 points or 0.61 per cent. YES Bank, down 10 per cent, was the top laggard among the Sensex pack , while Bajaj Finance, up over 1 per cent, was the top performer. In the intra-day trade, the Sensex declined 380 points from day's high to hit a low of 40,208.70.
On the NSE, the Nifty50 closed below the 11,900-mark at 11,856.80 level, down 81 points, or 0.68 per cent.
On the sectoral front, all the indices settled the day in the red. Nifty informational technology, public sector bank, metal and FMCG indices settled with over 1 per cent cut each.
The broader markets underperformed the benchmarks in Tuesday's session. The S&P BSE mid-cap index closed 1.1 per cent lower at 14,519.78 level, while the S&P BSE small-cap index ended at 13,145.27 level, down 1 per cent.
BUZZING STOCKS
Shares of information technology (IT) services were trading in the red in the early trade on Tuesday as the rupee hit around one month-high against the US dollar. The domestic currency opened at 70.96 against Monday's close of 71.04. The Nifty IT index settled 1.4 per cent lower on the NSE.
Shares of YES Bank hit a six-week low of Rs 53.40 on the BSE ahead of the board meeting slated for later today to finalize and approve the details of the preferential allotment. The stock-eventually settled 10 per cent lower at Rs 50.55 per share.
Shares of life insurance companies including HDFC Life Insurance, SBI Life Insurance, and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance were trading higher on Tuesday on report that the government may propose to raise foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the sector to 74 per cent from 49 per cent currently in the Union Budget for 2020-21.
GLOBAL CUES
Global stock markets fell for a second day on Tuesday after Chinese local media reported that a trade deal was unlikely to be signed before December 15. Despite this, the report said, Washington and Beijing do not expect the tariffs planned for December 15 to come into force, adding to a growing chorus on both sides who expect de-escalation this week.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.17 per cent lower, while China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite index was off 0.08 per cent. In Europe, shares fell for again, with the pan-European STOXX 600 index down 0.4 per cent at 1:45 PM. Germany’s DAX fell 0.64 per cent to its lowest in a week.