Markets fall as investors turn cautious ahead of RBI’s monetary policy

Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices fell on Tuesday as investors turned cautious ahead of the key events — RBI’s monetary policy and the US inflation data — due to be announced later this week.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 106.98 points or 0.16 per cent to settle at 65,846.50. During the day, it declined 200.85 points or 0.30 per cent to 65,752.63.

The NSE Nifty slipped 26.45 points or 0.13 per cent to end at 19,570.85.

From the Sensex pack, Power Grid, Mahindra & Mahindra, JSW Steel, HCL Technologies, Sun Pharma, Nestle, IndusInd Bank, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and ITC were the major laggards. Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Bajaj Finance, SBI, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, Titan and ICICI Bank were among the major gainers.

The rupee depreciated by 16 paise to settle at more than an eight-month low of 82.91 against the US dollar on Tuesday weighed down by safe-haven dollar demand and a muted trend in domestic equities. Global oil benchmark Brent crude fell 1.38 per cent to $84.16 a barrel.