Mumbai: Led by foreign funds, Dalal Street investors sold aggressively on Thursday as speculation grew about a Lok Sabha election earlier than the one scheduled in May 2014. As a result, the sensex lost 292 points to settle at 18,510, a four-month closing low with real estate, IT and consumer durable stocks leading the slide. The slide also came on the back of expectations that there may not be much to cheer for the Street as the quarterly earnings season starts next week, dealers said.
It was the second consecutive session of triple-digit losses for the index — the sensex has lost about 530 points in the two sessions. The loss in investors' wealth is around Rs 1.7 lakh crore and BSE's market capitalization now stands at Rs 63.2 lakh crore. These losses came despite a strong US market where the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices hit record highs earlier this week. The day's session saw FIIs recording a net outflow of Rs 326 crore on the back of a Rs 369-crore net outflow on Wednesday and Rs 54 crore on Tuesday. With three successive sessions of losses, institutional dealers are now nervous that foreign fund managers may take some money out of India since the chances of the Indian market moving up is now low. Instead, they may look at other markets which may give higher returns when compared to India, according to the head of research at a domestic brokerage.
Among the sensex stocks, Jindal Steel ended 4.3% lower at Rs 329 while Tata Steel lost 4% to Rs 304 and Sterlite lost 3.1% at Rs 88. Of the 30 sensex stocks, 24 ended in the red. Of the sensex gainers, Dr Reddy's Labs closed 3% up at Rs 1,890 while Coal India gained 2.6% at Rs 310.
In the broader market on the BSE, laggards outnumbered gainers by a margin of 2-to-1 with 1,850 declines to 907 advances. A sliding stock market due to FII selling also had its impact on the Indian currency with the rupee weakening 45 paise to 54.89 to a dollar, a month-low level.
Gold falls below 29k on global cues
Mumbai: Tracking global cues, gold prices dipped in the domestic market and closed below the Rs 29,000-per-10gm mark for the first time in about 10 months. Internationally, with the US economy showing signs of stability, central banks around the world are buying less gold than ever, while consumer demand for gold jewellery and bars is on the wane, news reports said. In mid-session in the US market, gold futures for June delivery was trading 0.4% lower at $1,548 per ounce. In the domestic market, standard gold in Mumbai closed at Rs 28,985, compared to Rs 29,195 on Wednesday. Market players here said that, tracking global cues, the yellow metal is expected to enter a bear phase that could continue for several years. However, this could change for the Indian market in case the rupee weakens against the dollar. TNN
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