Sensex, Nifty slide for 4th day; IT, banking shares drop

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty gave up early gains to close lower for a fourth straight session on Thursday due to selling in IT and banking shares amid weak global equities. The 30-share BSE benchmark settled 98 points or 0.18 percent lower at 53,416.15.

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty gave up early gains to close lower for a fourth straight session on Thursday due to selling in IT and banking shares amid weak global equities.

The 30-share BSE benchmark settled 98 points or 0.18 percent lower at 53,416.15. During the day, it hit a high of 53,861.28 and a low of 53,163.77.

The broader NSE Nifty also pared initial gains and ended 28 points or 0.18 percent down to settle at 15,938.65.

Among the Sensex constituents, Axis Bank declined the most by 1.74 percent. HCL Technologies, State Bank of India, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Wipro, UltraTech Cement, and ITC were the major laggards.

Sun Pharma, Dr. Reddy's Lab, Maruti Suzuki India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan, and Reliance Industries were among the gainers.

Energy stocks gained after reports said that the government may review the windfall tax on petrol and diesel exports after a sharp decline in crude oil prices. Reliance Industries rose by 0.83 percent helping the index restrict losses. ''Tracking weak cues in global markets, Indian indices gave away their initial gains amid concerns over higher-than-expected US inflation data. Investors are increasingly expecting the Fed to carry out a minimum 75bps rate hike this month to combat high inflation.

''On the domestic front, India's WPI inflation moderated in June although it remains at elevated levels,'' said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

The wholesale price-based inflation eased to a three-month low of 15.18 percent in June on a sharp decline in the prices of minerals, but food articles continued to remain costly.

June is the 15th consecutive month when the wholesale price index-based inflation remained double-digit.

''Markets remained volatile on the weekly expiry day and settled with a marginal cut. After the initial uptick, the benchmark drifted lower and traded with a negative bias for most of the session. However, a rebound in select index majors in the final hour trimmed some losses. Besides global headwinds, domestic cues are also portraying a mixed picture,'' said Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge declined 0.56 percent, while the midcap dipped 0.40 percent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, IT fell by 1.44 percent, and teck by 1.14 percent while basic materials (0.71 percent), telecom (0.63 percent), metal (0.48 percent), and bank (0.43 percent) were the major laggards.

Energy, healthcare, consumer durables, oil & gas, and power were among the winners.

In Asia, markets in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Seoul ended lower, while Tokyo settled in the green.

Equity markets in Europe were trading lower during mid-session deals. The US markets had ended lower on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.97 percent to USD 97.61 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday, offloading shares worth Rs 2,839.52 crore, as per exchange data.