With massive selling by foreign investors over taxation worries, delay in passage of reform bills and disappointing earning numbers dragged down the benchmark BSE Sensex by 118 points on Thursday. Continuing the downward trend, meanwhile the rupee also dipped for the fifth session on sustained capital outflows by foreign funds and breached the 64-mark to end at 20 months' low of 64.23 against the dollar.
The Sensex on Thursday finally settled at 26,599.11 -- its lowest closing in 6-1/2 months. The behaviour of market is due to rupee depreciation, rising oil prices and MAT worries. The NSE Nifty also fell below the 8,000-level intra-day. Persistent selling by foreign investors over taxation worries, delay in passage of reform bills and disappointing earning numbers bogged down markets, traders said.
"Sentiment was also dampened as rupee breached 64-level to fall to a 20-month low, fading chances of a rate cut by the RBI at its meeting next month," they added. Globally, markets were unsettled on a sell-off in government bonds, stocks and the dollar as well a increase in oil prices showed little sign of relenting.
Weak show by Asian markets following downbeat closing on Wall Street had a negative rub off on markets here. "Concern over surging oil prices, rupee depreciation against the dollar and Greece are the key issues, which are spooking the markets. Besides, participants are also cautious due to uncertainty over the GST bill," said Jayant Manglik, President of Retail distribution at Religare Securities.
The 30-share Sensex fell 118.26 points or 0.44 per cent to close at 26,599.11, its weakest closing since October 21. The gauge shuttled between 26,423.99 and 26,850.37 intra-day. On Wednesday, it had collapsed by 722.77 points or 2.63 per cent. On Wednesday, it was the third-straight session of decline with the index having lost 891.48 points during this period.
Meanwhile, Sensex has retreated by 3,425.63 points or 11.40 per cent from record high of 30,024.74 reached on March 4, while Nifty plunged 1,061.90 points or 11.64 per cent from its record high of 9,119.20 touched on March 4. Banking, realty, consumer durable, oil&gas, healthcare and auto stocks were at the receiving end. Meanwhile, shares of Mandhana Industries, the entity associated with Salman Khan, further lost nearly 3.5 per cent on Thursday after the actor was handed down 5 years of imprisonment in the 2002 hit-and-run case.
He has been granted interim bail by the Bombay High Court. The Mandhana stock fell by 3.55 per cent to settle at Rs255.10 on the BSE. During the day, it lost 3.93 per cent to Rs254.10. On the NSE, it shed 3.53 per cent to close at Rs255.25. In the previous session, the stock had lost 4 per cent.