Markets snap two-day rising streak, IT & finance stocks play spoilsport

Mumbai: Equity benchmarks capitulated in the last hour of trade on Thursday to break their two-session winning run, with IT, finance and bank stocks playing spoilsport amid expiry of monthly derivative contracts.

A weakening rupee also weighed on sentiment, traders said.

After remaining in the positive territory for most part of the session, the 30-share BSE Sensex suddenly came under selling pressure towards the fag-end, tumbling 310.71 points or 0.53 per cent to settle at 58,774.72.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty dropped 82.50 points or 0.47 per cent to 17,522.45.

Bajaj Finance led the losers among the Sensex constituents, falling 1.81 per cent, followed by PowerGrid, Infosys, TCS, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, NTPC and Larsen &

Toubro.

Only five counters clocked gains — Maruti Suzuki, SBI, Dr Reddy's, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Titan, rising up to 0.46 per cent.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.20 per cent and the smallcap index went up 0.17 per cent.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, IT and teck fell 0.88 per cent each, FMCG declined 0.45 per cent, oil & gas 0.40 per cent and industrials 0.35 per cent.

Consumer discretionary goods and services, consumer durables, metal and realty ended in the green.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai ended higher.

Bourses in Europe were trading in the positive zone during mid-session deals. Wall Street had posted gains on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.17 per cent to $101.3 per barrel.

The rupee declined by 6 paise to close at 79.92 after moving in a narrow range against the US dollar on Thursday.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 23.19 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.