Market Wrap, July 29: Sensex slips 196 pts, Nifty gives up 11,200

Shares of automobile manufacturers crashed at the bourses on Monday after reports said that the government intended to hike registration and renewal charges for internal combustion vehicles. The sector was also marred by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) council's decision to cut tax rate on electric vehicles from 12 per cent to 5 per cent.

Weak June quarter performance by corporates and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's comments that the government was not relooking at the FPI surcharge proposal dented investment sentiment.

The Sensex ended 196 points, or 0.52 per cent, lower at 37,686 levels pulled down by automobile manufacturers stocks. Tata Motors, Vedanta, Bajaj Auto, and Maruti were the top laggards at the close while ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, and HCL Tech ended the day as top gainers. On the other hand, Nifty50 gave up the psychological level of 11,200 mark to settle at 11,189 mark, down 95 points, or 0.84 per cent. The Sensex touched an intra-day low of 37,519 while the Nifty50 hit a low of 11,152.

In the broader market, S&P BSE MidCap ended 93 points, or 0.67 per cent, lower at 13,763 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap closed 135 points, or 1.03 per cent, lower at 12,926 levels.

Among individual stocks, shares of Indiabulls group companies were under pressure on Monday, falling by up to 10 per cent intra-day on the BSE, after Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing the group of laundering more than Rs 1 lakh crore. The group, however, rejected the charges.

Sectorally, all the indices ended in the red barring Nifty IT index. Nifty Auto index was the worst performing index, closing over 3.6 per cent lower. This was followed by losses in Nifty Metal index (down 2.8 per cent) and Nifty Pharma index (down 1.8 per cent). Nifty Realty, PSU bank and FMCG indices were down close to a per cent. Nifty IT index ended 0.17 per cent higher.