Markets after a firm positive start could not sustain on the gains and closed lower, amid cautious approach by the investors ahead of RBI policy meet tomorrow, led by FMCG and Bankex sectoral shares. The S&P BSE Sensex dropped by 113.24 points or 0.55% at 20,570.28. It touched a high of 20,771.36 and a low of 20,550.64. The CNX Nifty also declined by 43.80 points or 0.71%. It touched a high of 6,168.75 and a low of 6,094.10 in the intra-day today.
Among the sectoral indices, Consumer Durables, Capital Goods and Oil & Gas were the sectoral indices closing positive between 1.3-0.30%. Whereas on the losing side FMCG and Realty indices took the lead by declining 2.56% and 2.10% followed by Metal, Bankex and Power indices dropping between 2-1% each. Healthcare, PSU, IT and Auto were other indices closing weak. Even in the broader markets, Mid-cap index fell by 0.76% and Small-cap trending the same declined by 0.49%.
Among the index gainers, L&T surged up by 1.89% followed by HDFC and ONGC gaining by 1.35% and 1.02% each. Reliance Industries, Wipro, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Gail (India) were other index gainers.
Among the index losers, ITC and Sesa Sterlite dropped by 3.63% and 3.26%, Tata Steel and SBI also declined by 2.94% and 2.41% each. Hindalco Inds, Hero MotoCorp, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma and Tata Power fell between 2-1%. Other index losers include Cipla, Coal India, Hindustan Unilever, HDFC Bank, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Infosys and TCS. Mahindra & Mahindra closed almost flat negative by 0.01%.
The overall market breadth was firm negative with 1,408 shares declining as compared to 1,004 shares advancing while 161 shares remained unchanged.
