Stock market extends losses amid selling across sectors
At close, the Sensex was down 1,064.12 points or 1.30 per cent at 80,684.45, and the Nifty was down 332.25 points or 1.35 per cent at 24,336.
Sensex and Nifty continued their winning streak for the seventh consecutive day on Wednesday on the back of declining crude oil prices and an appreciating domestic currency.
Apart from export-oriented IT and pharma stocks all other sectors ended in the green, both on NSE and BSE.
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Sensex settled 137.25 points or 0.38 per cent higher at 36,484.33 points after touching an intra-day high of 36,554.99 and a low of 36,381.87.
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The Nifty50 gained 58.60 points or 0.54 per cent to close at 10,967.30.
Finance, power and oil and gas stocks outperformed the benchmark Sensex, gaining over 1 per cent.
The domestic currency continued to gain against the US dollar after registering a Rs 1.11 rise on Tuesday — the strongest single-day gain in five years.
Rupee was trading around Rs 70.16 against the US dollar from its previous close of 70.44 after the benchmark Brent Crude slipped to $56.35 around closing bell.
“Healthy foreign fund inflow and lower crude price, which is at a 52-week low, have helped the currency. The Indian rupee has been the best emerging market currency in the past week,” said Anindya Banerjee, Deputy Vice President for currency and interest rates with Kotak Securities.
“Indian bonds, equity and the currency has outperformed other major markets by a big margin,” Banerjee said.
Investors, however, are still cautious about the outcome of the ongoing Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). The committee is widely expected to push up interest rates which has kept the sentiments tepid, analysts said.
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