Sensex, Nifty fall for 3rd day on selling in oil, banking & IT shares

Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty reversed their early gains to close lower on Wednesday due to selling in oil & gas, banking, and IT stocks amid weak trends in European markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 372.46 points or 0.69 percent to close at 53,514.15, extending its falling streak to the third day.

The index opened higher and touched the day's high of 54,211.22 amid gains in Asian markets. However, it failed to hold onto its gains and dropped over 750 points to touch a low of 53,455.26 as European markets opened lower.

The broader NSE Nifty declined 91.65 points or 0.57 percent to settle below the 16,000 level at 15,966.65.

In the three sessions to Wednesday, Sensex dropped by 967 points or 1.7 percent while Nifty fell by 254 points.

''Strong domestic macro numbers and a fall in crude prices lifted Indian indices to open in positive territory while the gains were restrained by Europe's negative market trend.

''Global markets were in a bear grip ahead of the release of the US inflation data...,'' said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Among the Sensex constituents, IndusInd Bank fell the most by 3.42 percent. Bharti Airtel fell 2.87 percent, HDFC by 2.65 percent, HDFC Bank by 2.44 percent, and Reliance Industries by 1.77 percent.

TCS declined by 1.49 percent while HCL Technologies fell by 1.11 percent. Titan, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Tech Mahindra, and Wipro also dropped.

Analysts said gains in FMCG and pharma shares helped cut losses in the indices.

Hindustan Unilever rose by 1.97 percent, Asian Paints by 1.7 percent, and Sun Pharma by 1.09 percent. Kotak Mahindra Bank, NTPC, and Nestle also advanced.

Meanwhile, the broader markets outperformed the benchmark and ended on a flat note. The BSE midcap gauge advanced by 0.32 percent and smallcap index ended up by 0.04 percent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, utilities fell 1.71 percent, power by 1.71 percent, oil & gas by 1.43 percent, energy by 1.26 percent, finance by 0.91 percent, and teck by 0.65 percent.

FMCG, basic materials, healthcare, metal, and realty were the gainers.

Markets traded under pressure and lost over half a percent, in continuation of the prevailing corrective move, Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.

''The Bank Nifty index breached the immediate support of 35,000 and witnessed continuous selling pressure throughout the day. It remains in a sell mode and is likely to test the next support of 34,400 on the downside,'' Kunal Shah, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities said.

Official data released on Tuesday showed that retail inflation eased slightly to 7.01 percent in June but was above the central bank's tolerance band for the sixth month in a row, signaling more interest rate hikes in the future. In May, retail inflation was 7.04 percent.

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

Stock markets in Europe were trading lower in mid-session deals.

The US markets had ended lower on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1 percent to USD 100.5 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,565.68 crore, according to exchange data.