Sensex continues decline, down 290 pts; Sugar stocks gain

The Indian stock market tanked and closed in the red ahead of US jobs data due on Friday which will likely signal slowing US growth, are overseas cues being closely watched.

Continued domestic political uncertainty and worries about early elections after the withdrawal of a key regional ally from the ruling coalition last month are weighing on investor sentiment.

Sensex closed at 18509.70, down 1.55 percent and the Nifty closed at 5574.75, down 1.73 percent.

[caption id=“attachment_686134” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Traders are getting jittery after the premium in Nifty futures reduced. Reuters[/caption]

Congress VP Rahul Gandhi today offered a broad vision of 21st century India in his first major speech to business leaders that critics called vague and rambling. He did not touch on any of the issues bedevilling India such as high inflation, decelerating investment, a ballooning current account deficit and red tape that ties up infrastructure projects for years.

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Additionally, Foreign funds sold shares worth Rs 368 crore ($67.60 million) on Wednesday, provisional exchange data shows. Traders are getting jittery after the premium in Nifty futures reduced, coupled with heavy selling in the last 30 minutes of trade on Wednesday, accounting for 35 percent of total traded volumes, as per Reuters data.

Stocks in news

Shares in Coal India closed up 3 percent after Bloomberg news reported that the government plans to raise 200 billion rupees ($3.67 billion) by selling part of its stake in the company.

Shares in sugar manufacturers gained on hopes the government will remove a requirement that they sell a portion of their sugar output to the government at reduced prices, while also easing some of the restrictions on the sector. Bajaj Hindusthan closed up 7 percent , Shree Renuka Sugars closed up 6 percent, while Balrampur Chini Mills rose 0.43 percent.

With inputs from Reuters