Stock markets end lower amid profit-taking in banking, auto shares ahead of GST Council meet

Mumbai: Reversing its early gains, benchmark BSE Sensex declined by 206 points on Tuesday due to last-hour profit-taking in banking and auto shares amid caution ahead of the GST Council meeting.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 206.61 points or 0.26 per cent to settle at 80,157.88 with 16 of its components ending lower and 14 with gains. The barometer opened higher and traded with gains till late afternoon session. However, profit-taking at the fag-end dragged the index down by 752.64 points from the day’s high of 80,761.14.

The 50-share NSE Nifty dipped 45.45 points or 0.18 per cent to 24,579.60.

Among Sensex firms, Mahindra & Mahindra, Asian Paints, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors and Larsen & Toubro closed with losses.

However, Power Grid, NTPC, Tata Steel and Hindustan Unilever were the major gainers.

The BSE smallcap gauge climbed 0.64 per cent and midcap index went up by 0.27 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, bankex dropped the most by 0.68 per cent, followed by telecommunication (0.59 per cent), financial services (0.44 per cent), tech (0.28 per cent) and consumer durables (0.13 per cent).

Power jumped 1.62 per cent, followed by utilities (1.47 per cent), FMCG (1.12 per cent), metal (0.90 per cent), realty (0.67 per cent) and energy (0.65 per cent).

The rupee declined 5 paise to close at an all-time low of 88.15 against the US dollar on Tuesday, as Indo-US trade deal uncertainty and weak domestic equity markets pressured the local unit.