Rupee woes continue as Sensex falls consecutively falls for fifth day

The equity benchmark Sensex extended its fall for a fifth straight session Tuesday, making it the longest losing spree in over three months as concerns persist on multiple fronts in the form of rising crude prices, tumbling rupee and ongoing global trade tiff.

The 30-share BSE index also logged its weakest closing by falling 155 points to 38,157.92, following a widespread selling mainly in sectors like consumer durables, financials, and banks.

The broader Nifty too fell for the second straight session and closed with a loss of over 62 points, or 0.54 percent, at 11,520.30, after hovering between 11,496.85 and 11,602.55.

Investors remained concerned over sustained foreign fund outflows and widening current account deficit as a result of soaring crude oil prices, leading to a continuous fall in the domestic currency.

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee crashed to a fresh record low of 71.57 against the US dollar in intra-day movement, weighing on investors sentiment.

Besides, the ongoing trade war rhetorics between the two largest economies, the US and China, further hit market sentiments globally.

"Continued weakness in currency and surge in oil price dragged the indices to a consolidation. Additionally, concerns on widening deficit and inflation trajectory led domestic bond yield to break 8 percent mark. Weak global market on account of trade tensions further steered the investor's sentiment," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd, said.

Domestic bourses saw a hectic selling in almost all sectors -- consumer durables, PSUs, infrastructure, realty, FMCG, telecom, utilities, power, metal, auto, healthcare, banking, oil and gas, capital goods and finance.

The BSE Sensex soared 206.04 points to hit a high of 38,518.56 in early trade but gave up its gains following a widespread sell-off, which dragged it down to 38,098.60. The benchmark equity gauge recorded its longest string of losses since May 21.

It finally ended at an over two-week low of 38,157.92, down 154.60 points, or 0.40 percent. The Sensex had lost 584.11 points in the previous four sessions.

The broader NSE Nifty closed lower by 62.05 points, or 0.54 percent, at 11,520.30, after hovering between 11,496.85 and 11,602.55.

Sentiment remained weak on sustained capital outflows by foreign funds after an investor lobby group named AMRI (Asset Management Roundtable of India) said on Monday that the immediate impact of the new Sebi KYC norms, if not amended, would flush out USD 75-billion FPI investment from the country within a short time-frame.

The organization also warned that it would have the severe impact on stocks and rupee.

However, taking strong objection to these claims, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Tuesday said, "It is preposterous and highly irresponsible to claim that USD 75 billion FPI investment will move out of the country because of Sebi's circular issued in April 2018."

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net sold shares worth a net of Rs 21.13 crore and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) also sold equities to the tune of Rs 542.12 crore on Monday, as per provisional data.

In the Sensex, Asian Paints topped the losers' chart, falling 3.49 percent, followed by SBI at 3.20 percent.

Other major laggards were Adani Ports 2.95 per cent, HUL 2.80 per cent, Coal India 2.61 per cent, IndusInd Bank 2.36 per cent, Hero Motocorp 1.75 per cent, Tata Motors 1.74 per cent, ICICI Bank 1.72 per cent, Bharti Airtel 1.69 per cent, Vedanta 1.64 per cent, Yes Bank 1.62 per cent and ONGC 1.55 per cent.

M&M fell 1.51 per cent, followed by Tata Steel 1.24 per cent, Bajaj Auto 1.09 per cent, ITC 0.99 per cent, Kotak Bank 0.81 per cent, HDFC Bank 0.79 per cent, NTPC 0.71 per cent, Maruti Suzuki 0.56 per cent, PowerGrid 0.44 per cent, L&T 0.35 per cent and Sun Pharma 0.27 per cent.

Whereas, exporters rose the most, with Infosys rising by 2.64 percent, TCS 1.86 percent and Wipro 1.42 percent in the Sensex index, buoyed by the weaker rupee.

Tata Consultancy Services also Tuesday became the second Indian company to attain a market valuation of over Rs 8 lakh crore mark following the surge in its share price.

Other gainers were Axis Bank, up by 1.39 percent, RIL 0.97 percent, and HDFC 0.79 percent.

Broader markets too witnessed selling pressure, with the mid-cap index tanking 2.60 percent and small-caps losing 2.04 percent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, consumer durables fell the most by losing 2.58 per cent followed by PSU 2.42 per cent, infra 2.41 per cent, realty 2.11 per cent, FMCG 2.09 per cent, telecom 2.07 per cent, utilities 2.04 per cent, power 1.98 per cent, metal 1.89 per cent, auto 1.77 per cent, healthcare 1.42 per cent, banking 1.41 per cent, oil & gas 1.40 per cent, capital goods 1.37 per cent and finance 1.25 per cent.

While IT rose 1.93 percent and Teck 1.31 percent.

Asia closed mostly mixed. Japan's Nikkei was down 0.05 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.94 percent and Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.10 percent.

In Europe, Frankfurt's DAX fell 0.83 percent and France's Paris CAC was down 1.12 percent. London's FTSE, too, declined 0.26 percent in early trade.

Oil prices rose in the international market after the evacuation of two Gulf of Mexico oil platforms in preparation for a hurricane.

Benchmark Brent crude was up 1.74 percent to trade at USD 79.51 a barrel.

WTI also quoted higher 2.05 percent to USD 71.23 percent.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)