Sensex, Nifty extend decline to eighth day as oil & gas, IT stocks wilt on inflation worries

Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex and Nifty slid for the eighth straight day to close at four-month lows on Tuesday as growing worries over interest rate hikes to stem inflation and FII selling unnerved investors.

Mixed global cues, selling in index heavyweights and caution by investors ahead of the release of key macroeconomic data waylaid the key indices to their longest losing run in more than three-and-a-half years. Investor wealth eroded by Rs 10.58 lakh crore in the eight-day decline.

Sensex and Nifty, previously, had fallen for a record nine days on the trot in May 2019.

Paring its early gains, the BSE Sensex declined by 326.23 points or 0.55 per cent to settle at a four-month low of 58,962.12. The barometer opened higher and later touched a high of 59,483.72 in line with gains in Asian markets. However, European stocks opened lower and US futures also declined amid a rise in bond yields which pulled down the 30-share index around 688 points to touch a low of 58,795.97.

The NSE Nifty also retreated from the day's highs to settle at a more than four-month low of 17,303.95, showing a loss of 88.75 points or 0.51 per cent. As many as 33 of Nifty stocks declined.

From the Sensex pack, Reliance Industries fell the most by 2 per cent. Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, ITC, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, Titan, Axis Bank and Bajaj Finance were among the other major laggards.

Asian Paints, Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid, UltraTech Cement, Tata Motors and HDFC were the major gainers.

Analysts said that weak sentiment continued to prevail as traders wary of high inflation concerns unwound their positions in commodity stocks such as metals and oil & gas.

Investors are also cutting their long positions due to high valuations of India market compared to other markets, they added.

The broader equity market, however ended higher, with the midcap gauge climbing 0.60 per cent and smallcap index gaining 0.40 per cent.

Among the sectoral indices, metal declined 2.37 per cent, oil & gas dipped 1.42 per cent, energy (1.35 per cent), teck (0.87 per cent), IT (0.83 per cent) and bankex (0.21 per cent).