Sensex, Nifty slide nearly 1%

Mumbai: Benchmark BSE Sensex and Nifty slid by nearly 1 per cent on Tuesday due to profit booking in IT, banking and FMCG shares ahead of the expected aggressive rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.

Marking its second straight day of losses, the 30-share BSE benchmark declined by 497.73 points or 0.89 per cent to settle at 55,268.49, with 22 of its constituents ending in the red.

During the day, it tanked 562.79 points or 1 per cent to a low of 55,203.43.

The broader NSE Nifty declined by 147.15 points or 0.88 per cent to 16,483.85 after 38 of its stocks succumbed to profit taking. Nifty had risen by over 5 per cent in the six-day rally to Friday. Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 1,548.29 crore on Tuesday, as per exchange data.

The rupee pared its initial gains to settle flat at 79.78 on Tuesday due to firm crude oil prices and forex outflows amid expectations of a sharp hike in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 1.71 per cent to $106.95 per

barrel.