Continuing their losing streak for the third straight session, the benchmark indices fell up to 0.62% as investors remained cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve meeting outcome. After opening flat, the Sensex traded in positive territory briefly (intraday high of 80,868.02) but later succumbed to profit booking, hitting a low of 80,050.07. It finally ended the day at 80,182.20, down 502.25 points or 0.62%. Similarly, the NSE’s Nifty fell 137.15 points or 0.56%.
With Wednesday’s fall, the Sensex has declined by close to 2,000 points or 2.38%, while the Nifty has dropped 569 points or 2.30% over the past three sessions.
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“Market sentiment remains cautious ahead of the FOMC meeting and potential policy and tariff shifts from the incoming US administration,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
The Indian market is witnessing a breakdown in the early Santa Claus rally, with the impact being more pronounced in India compared to developed markets due to the rapid appreciation of the dollar, Nair added.
Sectorally, utilities, power, capital goods, metals, and banking shares were the top losers, while IT and pharma managed small gains. Banking shares bore the brunt of investors’ concerns as the Bank Nifty has fallen over 1,400 points or 2.70% in the past two sessions.
Tata Motors, with a 3.03% decline, led the Sensex losers, followed by Power Grid, NTPC, and JSW Steel, all falling over 2%. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries recorded a modest gain of 0.64% and was among the top Sensex gainers, along with Sun Pharma, which rose 0.63%. IT majors TCS, Tech Mahindra, and HCL Tech gained up to 0.55%.
Continuing their selling spree, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 1,316.81 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) pumped in Rs 4,084.08 crore, as per provisional data from the exchanges.
Investor wealth declined by Rs 2.53 lakh crore on Wednesday and by Rs 7.46 lakh crore over the past two sessions, bringing the total market capitalisation to Rs 452.60 lakh crore.
The overall market breadth was negative, with 1,442 gainers compared to 2,563 losers. The broader BSE Midcap index fell 0.61%, while the BSE Smallcap index dropped 0.76%.
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