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It’s a red start on indices as equity benchmarks witnessed intensified selling pressure in the last hour. The weakness dragged Sensex down by over 340 points, while the Nifty fell below 10,500.
Investors chose to dump stocks in automobiles, energy, banks, and metal segments. PSU banks, too, saw weak trade, with Nifty PSU bank index ending lower by over 2 percent. Additionally, rise in crude oil prices on the back of Saudi Arabia announcing a supply cut and a resultant weak rupee weighed on indices.
Among the broader markets, the Nifty Midcap index closed down a percent.
Auto names were the big losers during the session, with Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki dragging the Nifty Auto index. Traders bet negatively on Tata Motors as October JLR sales fell down by around 4 percent. Maruti Suzuki ended lower on reports of a ‘service campaign’ for Ciaz.
The day began on a positive note, as Sensex and Nifty looked to shrug off negative cues from global markets. But weakness crept in by the afternoon session as investors further reacted to negative news on the automobile front along with global crude prices.
At the close of market hours, the Sensex closed down 345.56 points or 0.98% at 34812.99, while the Nifty fell 103 points or 0.97% at 10482.20. The market breadth was negative as 1,070 shares advanced, against a decline of 1,526 shares, while 153 shares were unchanged.
Tata Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan and Tech Mahindra were the top gainers, while Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, and HPCL lost the most.
"Market witnessed selling pressure and dropped below 10,500 due to weak global market and rise in oil prices on concerns of production cut. Investors are looking forward to today’s CPI inflation which is expected to soften to 3.6%. Stability in oil price and favorable rupee are crucial to find support in the market," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said in a statement.
Stocks in News
Shares of pharma major Cipla gained 1 percent after the company received a final approval for generic version of Roche's Valcyte.
Lupin gained a percent after it received an establishment inspection report (EIR) from the US FDA.
Meanwhile, NMDC fell more than 3 percent as company postponed its Board Meeting to November 13, 2018.
Orient Press rose nearly 18 percent intraday and closed 3 percent higher fater it received Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) approval to restart manufacturing at Tarapur plant.
PNB Housing Finance gained 3.5 percent after it obtained refinance sanction of Rs 3,500 crore from the National Housing Bank (NHB) in October, 2018.
Shares of Tata Motors fell down 5 percent as investors turned wary of JLR sales for October. Jaguar Land Rover reported 4.6 percent decline in total retail sales at 44,282 units in October.
Shares of aviation companies, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Jet Airways fell 3-6 percent as crude oil prices rose a percent on the back of supply cut announcement. Oil marketing companies, too, bore the brunt of higher crude prices.
Global Markets
European equities were higher, looking to cash in on better global sentiment. Stoxx 600 was up by 0.5 percent with almost every sector in the black.
Meanwhile, Asian markets traded mixed as global oil price hike and global growth fears weighed on indices there. Nikkei 225 erased early losses while the Topix index slightly down at 1,671.95.
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