Markets fall for 2nd day on FII selling, losses in blue-chip stocks RIL and ICICI Bank

Mumbai: Stock markets closed lower for the second straight day on Friday amid relentless foreign fund outflows and losses in blue-chip stocks Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India.

Benchmark BSE Sensex declined by 55.47 points or 0.07 per cent to settle at 79,486.32. During the day, it tanked 424.42 points or 0.53 per cent to 79,117.37.

The NSE Nifty dipped 51.15 points or 0.21 per cent to 24,148.20.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, Asian Paints, Tata Steel, State Bank of India, Reliance Industries, NTPC, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank were the biggest laggards.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Nestle and Hindustan Unilever were among the gainers.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,888.77 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

The BSE smallcap gauge fell by 1.52 per cent and midcap index declined by 1.18 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, realty lost 2.98 per cent, energy (2.10 per cent), oil & gas (2.08 per cent), utilities (1.59 per cent), power (1.51 per cent), commodities (1.30 per cent) and metal (1.05 per cent). IT, auto, consumer durables and tech were the gainers.

Declining for the third straight session, the rupee dropped 5 paise to hit a new lifetime low of 84.37 against the US dollar on Friday, weighed down by persistent foreign fund outflows and a muted trend in domestic equities.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.28 per cent to $74.66 a barrel.