Sensex falls as IT stocks fall, Nifty ends below 18,500

Bombay:

Equity benchmark Sensex fell almost 390 points today, pressured by large sales in IT, technology and energy stocks despite a positive trend in global markets.

In addition, rising crude oil prices and continued foreign capital outflows further weighed on sentiment, traders said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened strong but came under heavy selling pressure to close 389.01 points or 0.62 percent lower at 62,181.67. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty fell 112.75 points, or 0.61 percent, to 18,496.60.

HCL Tech was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, down 6.72 percent, followed by Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Wipro, TCS and Reliance Industries.

On the other hand, Nestlé India, Titan, Sun Pharma, Dr. Reddy’s, IndusInd Bank and ITC among the winners.

Sector-wise, BSE IT, metals and technology lost as much as 2.98 percent, while healthcare and banks made gains.

In the broader markets, BSE mid-cap and large-cap gauges fell as much as 1 percent.

After a rally in the US market, stocks in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul went green.

Stocks in Europe also traded with slight gains in mid-session deals.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Thursday as they sold shares worth Rs 1,131.67 crore, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.05 percent to $76.19 a barrel.

Flows in the mutual fund industry through systematic investment plans or SIPs routes rose to an all-time high of Rs 13,306 crore in November, reflecting the growing maturity and confidence of investors.

However, inflows into equity mutual funds fell by 76 per cent to Rs 2,258 crore in November from Rs 9,390 crore in the previous month, data released by Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) on Friday showed.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)