Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty reversed their early gains and closed lower on Wednesday on selling in oil and gas, banking and IT stocks amid a weak trend in European markets.
The BSE 30-share Sensex closed 372.46 points or 0.69% lower at 53,514.15, extending its falling streak to the third day.
The index opened with gains amid gains in Asian markets and touched the day’s high of 54,211.22. However, it failed to maintain its gains and fell over 750 points to touch a low of 53,455.26 in European markets.
The broader NSE Nifty ended 91.65 points or 0.57% lower at 15,966.65, below the 16,000 level.
IndusInd Bank, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, TCS, Titan and HCL Technologies were the major losers among Sensex constituents.
Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra Bank, NTPC and Nestle were the major gainers.
“Strong domestic macro numbers and fall in crude oil prices pushed Indian indices to open in positive territory, while gains were hampered by negative market trends in Europe.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said, “Global markets were in recession before the release of US inflation data…”
In Asia, markets in Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo ended higher, while Hong Kong declined marginally.
European stock markets were trading lower in mid-session deals.
On Tuesday, the US markets closed with a fall.
Official data released on Tuesday showed retail inflation eased slightly to 7.01% in June, but was above the central bank’s tolerance band for the sixth straight month, indicating more interest rate hikes in the future. Retail inflation stood at 7.04% in May.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1% to $100.5 a barrel.
Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers on Tuesday as they sold shares worth Rs 1,565.68 crore, according to exchange data.