Markets declined after a freak trade pulled markets lower towards late trade. Domestic indices started off the day almost flat with no key trigger for the equity markets. Markets remained unmoved with weak European opening. However it was towards the end of the trading session that the market suddenly slipped in red due to error trade. Market breadth was negative as on BSE, 1,638 shares declined and 1,242 shares rose.
The BSE Sensex touched a high of 17,520 and a low of 17,231 before it closed 0.7% or 130 points lower at 17,374. Mid cap and small cap stocks also fell lower wherein small caps fell marginally lesser than both mid cap and large cap peers. The BSE Mid-cap index fell close to 1% while the BSE Small-cap index shed 0.5%. The S&P CNX Nifty too took a dip of 0.8% or 42 points to close at 5,291.
Most of the indices on the BSE sectoral front ended in red with just two gainers. The BSE FMCG index grew by 0.1% similarly the BSE Auto index ended almost flat. Most of the interest sensitive counters ended lower on account of profit booking after a rally seen in these spaces following RBI rate cut. The BSE Realty and BSE Bankex indices dropped 1.7% and 1.1% respectively. The highest loser was the BSE Capital Goods index which fell 1.8%.Within this space the index heavyweight L&T fell over 2%. IT stocks ended mixed as the BSE IT index shed 0.2%.
Among the BSE – 30 stocks, only 9 of them gained with the rest of the lot in red. M&M, Wipro, Tata Steel, Cipla and ITC were the top five gainers which grew by 2.9%, 0.8%, 0.7%, 0.6% and 0.4% respectively. On the contrary, the top five losers were Hindalco, Tata Power, ONGC, BHEL and L&T which fell in the range of 2% - 2.5%.
As per the data released by SEBI, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in equity to the tune of Rs 68 crores while they were net buyers in debt segments to the tune of Rs 155 crores.