Mumbai: Falling for the seventh consecutive session, the BSE Sensex ended 230 points lower on Thursday led by losses in index heavyweight Reliance Industries, amid escalating trade tensions between the US and China.
The 30-share BSE benchmark closed 230.22 points, or 0.61 per cent, down at 37,558.91. The index hit an intra-day low of 37,405.40 and a high of 37,780.46. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty shed 57.65 points, or 0.51 per cent, to settle at 11,301.80. During the day, the bourse hit a low of 11,255.05 and a high of 11,357.60.
Reliance Industries was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, ending 3.41 per cent lower. It was followed by Coal India, Asian Paints, NTPC, Kotak Bank, Bharti Airtel, Vedanta, PowerGrid and HDFC twins, which shed up to 2.53 per cent. On the other hand, Yes Bank gained the most, spurting 5.94 per cent.
Bajaj Finance, Hero MotoCorp, TCS, HUL, Bajaj Auto, HCL Tech, Infosys, SBI, M&M, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors rose up to 1.65 per cent.
According to traders, investor sentiment remained weak amid rising trade tensions between the US and China.
Ahead of the next round of talks aimed at ending the trade war between the world's two largest economies, China has said it will retaliate if US raises tariffs on Chinese products. The comments came after US President Donald Trump threatened to hike tariffs on USD 200 billion worth of goods earlier this week.
Bourses in other Asian countries ended significantly lower, with Shanghai Composite Index falling 1.48 per cent, Hang Seng 2.39 per cent, Nikkei 0.93 per cent and Kospi 3.04 per cent. European stocks were also trading lower in early trade. Sustained foreign fund outflows also dampened market mood here, traders said.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold equities worth Rs 701.50 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased shares to the tune of Rs 232.95 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed. The Indian rupee depreciated 22 paise to 69.93 against the US dollar intra-day. Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.10 per cent lower at USD 70.30 per barrel.
