Subdued global markets and a weak Indian rupee pulled the domestic equity indices lower on Thursday, with the BSE Sensex closing 179 points lower.
Globally, investor sentiments were weighed down by the ongoing trade war concerns among major economies.
In the domestic market, expiry of the June derivative contracts also added to the volatility on Thursday.
Index-wise, the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 10,589.10 points, down 82.30 points or 0.77 per cent from the previous close of 10,671.40 points.
Similarly, the barometer 30-scrip Sensex of the BSE, which had opened at 35,207.19 points, closed at 35,037.64 points, down 179.47 points or 0.51 per cent from its previous session’s close of 35,217.11 points.
The Sensex touched an intra-day high of 35,282.40 and a low of 34,937.15 points. The BSE market breadth was bearish with 1,853 declines and 765 advances.
“Stock markets in India continued to trade on a weak note as a sharp slide in the Indian rupee, global trade uncertainty and the expiry of June derivatives contracts lent volatility to the markets and dampened investor sentiment,” said Abhijeet Dey, Senior Fund Manager for Equities at BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.
Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities said major Asian markets closed on a negative note, barring the Straits and Hang Seng indices and the European indices like CAC 40 and DAX also traded in the red.
HDFC Securities’ Head of Private Client Group and Capital Markets Strategy, V.K. Sharma said rupee registered its all time low on Thursday after crossing 69 per dollar mark, which triggered further sell-off in the Indian equity market.
The rupee ended at 68.79 per dollar, 18 paise weaker than its previous close of 68.61 per greenback.
Investment-wise, provisional data with exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrip worth Rs 951.51 crore while the domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth Rs 442.64 crore.
Sector-wise, the S&P BSE metal and the telecom indices ended with marginal gains, by 22.8 points and 2.2 points respectively.
On the other hand, S&P BSE consumer durables index slumped by 482.19 points, the oil and gas index by 342.45 points and the auto index ended lower by 183.46 points.
The major gainers on the Sensex were NTPC, up 1.79 per cent at Rs 156.05; Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), up 1.78 per cent at Rs 907.25; Infosys, up 1.55 per cent at Rs 1,288.85; HDFC Bank, up 1.01 per cent; and Kotak Mahindra Bank, up 1.01 per cent at Rs 1,338.10 per share.
The top losers were ICICI Bank, down 2.78 per cent at Rs 271.15; Tata Motors, down 2.69 per cent at Rs 263.90; Tata Motors (DVR), down 2.59 per cent at Rs 157.65; Coal India, down 2.23 per cent at Rs 260.50; and Reliance Industries, down 2.13 per cent at Rs 944.70 per share.