Equity benchmark indices opened on a negative note on Thursday with the Nifty50 slipping below the 16,000 and the 30-share Sensex falling more than 600 points amid weak global cues. This is the fifth session when indices continued their downtrend.
At 09:16 AM, Nifty was down 169 points (1.05%) to trade at 15997 while Sensex was down 589 points (1.09%) to trade at 53499. The indices weakened further as the Nifty was down by more than 250 points at 9:30 AM and briefly slipped below 15,900. Sensex declined over 850 points to trade below 53,200.
From the Sensex firms, UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, M&M, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv and Larsen & Toubro were among the major laggards. In contrast, Power Grid emerged as the only gainer.
Meanwhile, Rupee declined 30 paise to 77.55 against US dollar in early trade, according to news agency . Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures declined 1.11 per cent to USD 106.32 per barrel.
A lacklustre trend in the domestic equity markets and a firm American currency weighed on investor sentiment. Besides, persistent foreign fund outflows and elevated crude oil prices impacted the domestic unit.
In the previous trade, the BSE Sensex ended at 54,088.39, lower by 276.46 points or 0.51 per cent. The NSE Nifty dipped 72.95 points or 0.45 per cent to settle at 16,167.10. Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 3,609.35 crore, as per stock exchange data.
