Sensex declines over 110 points amid profit-taking & foreign fund outflows

Mumbai: Stock markets snapped the three-day winning run on Tuesday with benchmark Sensex falling by 110 points due to profit-taking in select IT, private bank and auto shares amid weak trends from the US markets and foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 110.64 points or 0.15 per cent to settle at 73,903.91 with 16 of its components ending lower and 14 settling higher. During the day, the index dropped by 270.78 points or 0.36 per cent to a low of 73,743.77 points.

The broader NSE Nifty closed lower by 8.70 points or 0.04 per cent at 22,453.30 despite recovery at the fag-end..

Both Sensex and Nifty scaled lifetime high levels in intra-day trade on Monday before settling around 0.5% higher.

From the Sensex basket, Kotak Mahindra Bank fell the most by 1.84 per cent. ICICI Bank dropped 1.63 per cent, HCL Technologies by 1.82 per cent, and Infosys by 0.84 per cent. Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and Larsen & Toubro were the major laggards.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Nestle, Tata Motors and IndusInd Bank were among the gainers.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge jumped 1.28 per cent and the midcap index climbed 1.14 per cent.

Analysts said mid and small-cap stocks continued their recovery rally, although concerns about high valuations lingered. Moreover, investors are eagerly anticipating guidance from the upcoming RBI monetary policy announcement for insight into near-term market direction.

Among the sectoral indices, tech fell by 0.71 per cent, IT declined 0.54 per cent, telecommunication (0.38 per cent) and bankex (0.19 per cent). Consumer Durables climbed 1.82 per cent, services jumped 1.56 per cent, metal (1.21 per cent), utilities (1.21 per cent) and commodities (1.17 per cent).

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 522.30 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.61 per cent to $88.83 a barrel.

In its third straight day of gains, Sensex jumped 363.20 points or 0.49 per cent to settle at 74,014.55 while Nifty climbed 135.10 points or 0.61 per cent to close at 22,462.