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Benchmark share indices ended marginally lower, amid a volatile trading session, as investors booked profits on concerns that near term growth would be impacted by demonetisation.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended down 71 points at 26,227 and the Nifty50 settled 31 points lower at 8,079. In the broader market, BSE Midcap fell 0.38% while Small cap closed 0.57% down.
Shares swung between gains and losses during the day with Sensex rising as much as 150 points in early trade but it later pared gains and fell more than 100 points in the intra-day trade. Nifty50 also breached its crucial 8,100 level during the day.
IT sector fell more than 1% on weaker rupee and Nasscom downgrading growth forecast for FY17. Lack of clarity on Trump’s policies which may lead to fall in foreign flows in India also kept the market cautious. TCS, Infosys and Wipro closed in red losing 2.33%, 1.29% and 0.70% respectively.
"The impact of currency crunch continues to disrupt the market’s momentum and is now oscillating between gains & losses and finally ended in negative. The fear of any downgrade in earnings has pushed the investors to stay sideline," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
“Markets look oversold now and existence of support at 8000 strengthens our case for consolidation in near future. However, traders should closely watch on banking pack and they hold the key for next directional move in Nifty,” said Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities Ltd.
Stocks and sectors
Tata Motors remained the top gainer with 3.73% rise followed by Power Grid up 2.37%.
Among the losers, some auto and two-wheeler makers, which are expected to see reduced demand for their products because of the banknote measures, fell with Bajaj Auto declining 2.19%.
Telecom sector was the biggest sectoral loser falling 2.45%. Bharti Airtel was the top loser in both the headline indices dropping almost 4%.
Jet Airways (India) extended losses and ended 2.28% lower. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 362 in intra-day trade, after it reported a disappointing set of numbers for the quarter ended September 30, 2016 (Q2FY17).
Cement stocks Ambuja Cement (-3.73%) and ACC (-2.68%) were also among top losers in Nifty50.
Development on demonetization
Market continued to weigh the impact of demonetisation in various sectors as the debate on the same went on in the Parliament. The government today announced some new measures to ease the cash crunch caused by the move, including allowing farmers to draw money from banks against loans sanctioned to them. The Lok Sabha was also adjourned for the day following uproar by the ‘united’ opposition for a debate on demonetization.
Global markets
Japan's Nikkei, China's Shanghai Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index settled the day flat in today's tarde after US Treasury yields eased as a week-long surge that followed Donald Trump's shock election win subsided further.
Japanese government bond yields also fell back from multi-month highs after the Bank of Japan conducted a special fixed-rate bond buying operation for the first time, firing a warning shot against excessive yield moves.
Meanwhile, european shares edged lower in early trading, with banking stocks on the backfoot again while an earnings miss at Ahold Delhaize put its shares on course for their worst day in seven months.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.2% after closing 0.2% lower in the previous session.
