Sensex, Nifty end 1% lower tracking trends in US & European markets

MUMBAI: Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty ended 1 per cent lower on Tuesday, dragged down by Reliance Industries and banking stocks along with a weak trend in European markets.

Unabated foreign fund outflows also negatively impacted the domestic equity market.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 631.83 points or 1.04 per cent to settle at 60,115.48. During the day, it tumbled 808.93 points or 1.33 per cent to 59,938.38.

The broader NSE Nifty declined 187.05 points or 1.03 per cent to end at 17,914.15.

''Local investors have been following global cues, and weakness in European and US markets triggered a downfall in domestic equities, which saw Nifty end below the crucial 18,000-mark. Trading sentiment has been very weak and most of the sluggish external factors are prompting investors to book profit at regular intervals,'' said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

From the Sensex pack, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, HDFC, NTPC, ITC, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank and Tata Consultancy Services were the major laggards.

Tata Motors, Power Grid, Tata Steel, Hindustan Unilever, IndusInd Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the winners from the 30-share pack.

India's largest IT services company TCS dipped 1.05 per cent even after reporting an 11 per cent rise in December quarter net profit to Rs 10,846 crore.

Prashanth Tapse - Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said, markets witnessed fresh drubbing ahead of Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell's speech, and Nifty slipped hard from 18,100 levels.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge declined 0.49 per cent and smallcap index dipped 0.46 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, telecommunication fell 1.63 per cent, services declined 1.41 per cent, bankex (1.31 per cent), financial services 1.28 per cent, teck (1.15 per cent), commodities (0.78 per cent), IT (0.73 per cent) and realty (0.68 per cent).

Healthcare, auto, metal and oil & gas were the winners.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul and Tokyo ended in the green, while Shanghai and Hong Kong settled lower.

Equity exchanges in Europe were trading lower in mid-session deals. Markets in the US had ended on a mixed note on Monday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.46 per cent to USD 79.28 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 203.13 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.