Mumbai: The domestic stock market fell on Monday and the BSE Sensex closed down by about 483 points. Markets fell on selling in information technology, capital goods and bank stocks amid losses in global stock markets. The 30-share Sensex closed at 58,964.57, down 482.61 points, or 0.81 per cent. During trading, it had come down to 552.78 points.
On the other hand, the Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also closed at 17,674.95, down 109.40 points or 0.62 percent. Of the stocks included in the Nifty, 29 were in losses. In the Sensex shares, Larsen & Toubro, HCL Technologies, Infosys Wipro, Asian Paints, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank were the main losers. Conversely, gainers include ICICI Bank, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, TCS and UltraTech Cement.
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TCS’s financial results for the fourth quarter of the last financial year will be released today. “Investors took a cautious approach ahead of the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting, the announcement of US inflation data and companies’ fourth quarter financial results,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services. Global markets also fell on concerns of inflation, signs of an aggressive rate hike by the US Federal Reserve and fears of weak growth due to geopolitical conditions.
US central bank officials have indicated that it may consider raising the policy rate to twice the normal rate in upcoming meetings. He also indicated that the Federal Reserve may take the purchased bonds out of the market. This will increase the rates of commercial loans. In other Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, South Korea’s Kospi, China’s Shanghai Composite and Japan’s Nikkei were among the losers.
Major markets in Europe also declined in early trade. International oil benchmark Brent crude was down 2.38 per cent at $100.3 billion per barrel. Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 575.04 crore on Friday, according to stock market data. (agency)
