Equities fell for a second straight session today as the BSE Sensex tumbled by 47 points despite a positive start, as investors remained on the sidelines, tracking cautious mood overseas, a day ahead of 'Brexit' vote.
Tata Motors plunged 2.58 per cent to Rs 472.50 on worries that its luxury unit Jaguar Land Rover's sales may get hit if the Britain votes to leave the European Union in tomorrow's referendum.
"While market participants remained guardedly optimistic ahead of the UK referendum, most traders and investors adopted a note of caution," said Shreyash Devalkar, Fund Manager - Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.
Market mood also took a hit after BJP leader Subramanian Swamy demanded sacking of Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian.
In forex market, the rupee continued to bleed following RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan's abrupt decision to quit and on demand for the US dollar in view of upcoming Brexit vote.
After touching the day's high of 26,887.29 in early trade on foreign fund inflows and fresh buying in select bluechips, the index slipped to a low of 26,617.45 before settling 47.13 points or 0.18 per cent lower at 26,765.65.
The 50-share NSE Nifty remained lacklustre too and settled 16.20 points or 0.20 per cent lower at 8,203.70.
In step with overall cues, broader markets too showed a weak trend with the small-cap and mid-cap indices falling by 0.60 per cent and 0.12 per cent, respectively.
Meanwhile, RBI today said it is keeping a watch on Brexit developments and will take necessary steps including liquidity support to ensure orderly conditions in the financial markets.
Sebi and stock exchanges have also beefed up their surveillance mechanism to deal with any excessive volatility in the run up to the 'Brexit' referendum whose outcome is keenly awaited by the investors.
Overseas, Asian shares closed mixed with Shanghai index rising 0.94 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 0.61, while Japan's Nikkei fell 0.64 per cent.
Europe too was in a slightly better shape with the UK's FTSE moving up by 0.32 per cent, Paris stocks rising 0.37 per cent and Germany's DAX 0.58 per cent in the green.
In the domestic market, 18 scrips out of the 30-share
Sensex pack ended higher.
Major gainers were Tata Motors (3.21 pc), Power Grid (2.52 pc), HDFC (1.78 pc), L&T (1.14 pc), NTPC (1.10 pc), GAIL (1.02 pc), Cipla (0.83 pc), Tata Steel (0.83 pc) and Lupin (0.80 pc).
However, Bajaj Auto eased 1.60 per cent followed by SBI 0.95 per cent, Coal India 0.83 per cent, HUL 0.80 per cent and Wipro 0.78 per cent.
Mid-cap and small-cap too firmed up 0.98 per cent and 0.81 per cent, respectively, on increased buying by retail investors.
Among the BSE sectoral indices, power rose by 1.41 per cent followed by utilities 1.37 per cent, metal 1.34 per cent, industrials 1.29 per cent, capital goods 1.01 per cent, telecom 0.91 per cent, realty 0.81 per cent and auto 0.78 per cent, while IT fell 0.26 per cent.
The market breadth turned positive as 1,486 stocks ended higher, 1,179 declined, while 205 ruled unchanged.
Total turnover dropped to Rs 3,319.14 crore from Rs 3,388.14 crore yesterday.
