Sensex Extends Losses For Seventh Day

(RTTNews) - Lingering worries that the U.S. Federal Reserve might start trimming stimulus sooner rather than later and weak reports on industrial production and inflation dragged the BSE Sensex lower for the seventh day in a row on Wednesday. The stock exchanges will remain shut tomorrow on account of Moharram.

The benchmark BSE Sensex fell 88 points or 0.43 percent to 20,194.40, dragged down by rate-sensitive banking and auto stocks as stubborn high inflation sparked fears that the RBI may hike interest rates further despite slowing economic growth. HDFC Bank and Hero MotoCorp fell around 2 percent each.

The broader Nifty index ended down 29 points or 0.47 percent at 5,989.60, with stocks like Cipla, GAIL, IndusIndBank, Tata Power and TCS pacing the decliners. The rupee hit an intraday low of 63.90 per dollar before recovering some lost ground on talk of RBI extending forex window for oil companies beyond November.

GMR Infrastructure, Karur Vysya Bank and Tata Global Beverages slumped 4-6 percent on disappointing Q2 results. Andhra Bank tumbled 4 percent after its second-quarter profit plunged 78 percent from a year earlier amid higher provisions for bad loans. Jet Airways slipped 0.7 percent on profit taking after the Competition Commission of India cleared the Jet-Etihad deal.

Reliance Communication rallied 3.2 percent after its quarterly profit jumped six-fold, helped by a provisional writeback. There were also reports that the telecom major is looking to hiving off assets to reduce debt. Rival Idea Cellular jumped 3.2 percent, while Bharti Airtel lost 1.7 percent and Tata Teleservices dropped 1.4 percent.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Gujarat Gas and Credit Analysis & Research rose 2-4 percent on solid quarterly results. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries added 2.1 percent after its Israeli subsidiary Taro delivered robust results for the second quarter.

SBI advanced 2 percent as the state-owned lender reported a 35 percent year-over-year fall in Q2 profit, with the pace of bad loan growth slowing from the preceding quarter.

ONGC shares closed up 1.3 percent. Its overseas arm ONGC Videsh reported a 14 percent increase in first-half profit, boosted by higher crude and gas output. NMDC rose 0.8 percent on the back of a bulk deal on the BSE.

Bata India shares advanced 1.8 percent after parent company Bata BN BV bought 6.08 lakh shares of its Indian subsidiary at an average price of Rs 888.05 per share from the open market.

On the global front, the Asian and European markets traded lower after China's third plenum meeting failed to outline steps to curb state dominance of the economy, saying markets would play a "decisive" role in allocating resources.

Renewed concerns that the U.S. Federal Reserve may start reducing its bond-buying program in the foreseeable future also kept investors on the sidelines ahead of Fed deputy chief Janet Yellen's testimony to the US Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.