Bourses close lower for second day in volatile trade amid relentless foreign fund outflows

Mumbai: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty closed lower in a highly volatile trade on Thursday amid relentless foreign fund outflows and selling in blue-chip ICICI Bank.

Falling for the second day in a row, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 148.14 points or 0.18 per cent to settle at 83,311.01.

The 50-share NSE Nifty dipped by 87.95 points or 0.34 per cent to 25,509.70.

Among Sensex firms, Power Grid fell the most by 3.15 per cent due to weak financial results. Eternal dropped by 2.44 per cent, Bharat Electronics by 1.67 per cent, and Bajaj Finance by 1.45 per cent. ICICI Bank and NTPC fell by 1.21 per cent each, dragging the index down.

However, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra and UltraTech Cement were among the gainers.

FIIs offloaded equities worth Rs 1,067.01 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

The BSE smallcap gauge dropped 1.53 per cent and midcap index went lower by 1.19 per cent.

Utilities tanked 2.20 per cent, followed by metal (2.03 per cent), power (1.96 per cent), commodities (1.76 per cent), realty (1.51 per cent) and industrials (1.47 per cent).

BSE Focused IT emerged as the only gainer.

A total of 3,012 stocks declined while 1,202 advanced and 139 remained unchanged on the BSE.

The rupee appreciated 7 paise to 88.63 against the US dollar on Thursday, supported by a weak American

currency against major rivals overseas.