Sensex hits 3-month low to end 220 pts lower; metals, oil and gas trounced

Equity markets remained in the thick of a bear hug for the fifth straight trading session Tuesday, as local investors hammered commodity stocks such as metals & oil & gas tracking the sharp drop in global crude prices. [caption id=“attachment_2537774” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] With international stock markets also facing a downward pressure amid worries of a stagnating global economic growth, the negative sentiment in local equities prevailed for almost the entire trading session and worsened towards the fag-end on the back of across-the-board selling pressure. Besides the global factors, investors back home also turned cagey and fear the National Herald case could hurt the prospects of the passage of the GST Bill in this session of parliament, said dealers. As selling intensified towards the closing stages, the benchmark Sensex plunged to the day’s low of 25,256.79, down 273 points. The 30-share BSE S&P Sensex, despite recovering some losses, hit a three-month low to finally settle at 25,310.33, down 219.78 points, or 0.9 percent from previous close. Including today’s losses, the index has shed over 850 points in last five sessions. The broader 50-stock CNX Nifty ended the day at 7,701.70, down 63.70 points, or 0.8 percent. Market breadth was extremely weak with losers outnumbering gainers by over 2:1, with 1,879 stocks declining against 877 advances on BSE. Among other Asian peers, Japan’s Nikkei dropped 1 percent, while China’s Hang Seng plunged 1.3 percent and Shanghai Composite lost 1.9 percent at close. All the three European gauges were trading 0.5 percent lower in their mid-day trades. Local commodity stocks bore the major brunt after global oil prices plunged 6 percent to its lowest level of the year. Among the laggards, shares of Gail tumbled 5.1 percent to Rs 339.50, Vedanta shed 4.6 percent to Rs 87.10, Hindalco declined 4.3 percent to Rs 75.90, Tata Steel lost 3.6 percent to Rs 234.75 and ONGC fell 3.6 percent to Rs 216.10. Other losers such as Dr Reddy’s, Coal India, BHEL, M&M, Lupin, L&T, SBI, HDFC and HDFC Bank were down over 1-3 percent each.