Sensex ends 58 pts lower as traders maintain caution ahead of ECB meet, UK polls

Mumbai: In a volatile session, the BSE benchmark Sensex Thursday fell by nearly 58 points to 31,213 on profit-booking in recent gainers by investors, who maintained a cautious stance ahead of UK polls and the ECB meeting. Moreover, the domestic market sentiment was hit by the Reserve Bank pegging GDP growth for the current fiscal lower at 7.3 percent and saying that rush for farm loan waivers may have inflationary spillovers. The 30-share index resumed higher at 31,316.91 and hovered in a range of 31,354.51 and 31,193.77 before settling at 31,213.36, showing a loss of 57.92 points, or 0.19 percent. [caption id=“attachment_2415832” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] The gauge had gained 80.72 points in the previous session on better monsoon forecast and the status quo on policy rates by the RBI yesterday. The NSE 50-share Nifty also down 16.65 points or 0.17 percent to 9,647.25, after shuttling between 9,688.70 and 9,641.50. Mixed trend in overseas markets as investors await Britain’s election result and ECB’s policy meeting and testimony from sacked FBI head James Comey on his probe into Donald Trump’s links to Russia also influenced sentiment, brokers said. Sector-wise, the BSE oil and gas was hit the most and fell 1.38 percent, followed by IT 1.33 percent, teck 1.19 percent, PSU 0.60 percent, consumer durables 0.58 percent, capital goods 0.36 percent, realty 0.21 percent, FMCG 0.19 percent and banking 0.15 percent. In 30-share Sensex, TCS dipped the most by plunging 3.59 percent to Rs 2,521.50 after brokerage firm Nomura cut its rating to ‘reduce’ from ’neutral’. Infosys too shed 0.54 percent to Rs 956.30, while Wipro lost 0.06 percent to Rs 548.50. Other laggards were GAIL, Hero Motocorp, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, M&M, Hind Unilever, ONGC, L&T, Reliance Industries, SBI, Coal India, ITC Ltd and Adani Ports, falling up to 3.44 percent. However, pharma stocks such as Dr Reddy, Sun Pharma and Cipla attracted fresh buying and gained up to 3.79 percent. Globally, in the Asian region, Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.38 percent, while Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.32 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng moved up 0.34 percent. In the Eurozone, Germany was up 0.35 percent, Paris CAC rose 0.23 percent in their early deals. London’s FTSE edged higher 0.06 percent.