Mumbai: Stock market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty drifted lower for the third day in a row on Wednesday as geopolitical tensions and renewed concerns about potential US tariff hikes weighed on investor sentiment.
Sustained foreign fund outflows also dragged the markets lower, traders said.
However, buying on select blue-chip counters and lower crude prices in the international market supported equities, they added.
In a volatile trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 102.20 points or 0.12 per cent to settle at 84,961.14. During the day, it dropped 445.85 points or 0.52 per cent to 84,617.49.
The 50-share NSE Nifty went down by 37.95 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 26,140.75.
“Market sentiment continued to be shaped by mixed global cues and lingering geopolitical concerns, which kept risk appetite in check. In addition, rotational selling in select index heavyweights, such as ITC, HDFC Bank and Reliance, capped the upside and restrained the broader uptrend.
From the 30-Sensex firms, Maruti, Power Grid, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, HDFC Bank, Asian Paints and Tata Steel were among the biggest laggards.
However, Titan, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services were among the gainers.
The BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.47 per cent, and the smallcap index went up by 0.12 per cent. Among sectoral indices, BSE utilities declined by 0.80 per cent, oil & gas (0.76 per cent), auto (0.68 per cent), telecommunication (0.61 per cent) and realty (0.39 per cent).
However, BSE Focused IT jumped 2.52 per cent, IT climbed 1.97 per cent, consumer durables (1.25 per cent), healthcare (0.42 per cent) and capital goods (0.41 per cent).
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, declined 0.81 per cent to USD 60.21 per barrel.
FIIs offloaded equities worth Rs 107.63 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data. Domestic institutional investors, however, bought stocks worth Rs 1,749.35 crore.
In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi index and Shanghai’s SSE Composite index settled higher, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended
lower.