Markets ended lower on Wednesday after earlier hitting record highs for the fourth straight session on profit taking with oil shares leading the decline.
The 30-share Sensex ended down 110 points at 25,474 after hitting a record high of 25,736 and the 50-share Nifty ended down 30 points at 7,627 after touching a record high of 7,700.
Exports grew by a six-month high of 12.40% at $27.9 billion in May this year against $24.91 billion in the same a year ago. The outbound shipment was driven by 28.7 er cent increase in petroleum products and 22.09% in engineering goods, showed official figures released today. Imports, on the other hand, contracted 11.41% at $39.23 billion in May against $44.28 a year ago. This was partly reflective of 72% decline in gold imports. As such, trade deficit declined by 42.01% at $11.23 billion in May against $19.37 billion in the same month of 2013-14.
The Indian rupee firmed up against the US dollar was trading higher at 59.24 compared to its close of 59.29 on Tuesday.
Asian markets ended mixed with Japanese shares ending firm on reports that Japan remains as the only developed market in the region in MSCI stock indexes. Reports also suggest that MSCI was removing South Korea and Taiwan from its review list for reclassification to developed markets. The Nikkei gained 0.5% to end at 15,069.48. The Shanghai Composite ended up 0.1% while Straits Times and Hang Seng ended down 0.1-0.2% each.
European shares were trading lower as investors turned cautious after the World Bank lowered its global economic growth forecast to 2.8% this year compared to it's earlier projection of 3.2% at the start of the year. The CAC, DAX and FTSE were down 0.5-0.8% each.
BSE Realty was the top loser down 4.2% followed by Power, Oil and Gas, Metal, COnsumer Durables and FMCG indices while IT index was the top gainer and Healthcare index was up 0.7%.
Oil shares which had surged recently on hopes of gas price hike continued to witness profit taking. Reliance Industries was down 2% while ONGC ended down 2.6%.
FMCG shares lost ground on concerns that lower monsoon rains would hit agricultural output leading to lower rural incomes hurting volume growth. ITC slipped 1.3% and Hindustan Unilever closed 2.5% lower.
Other losers include, Tata Motors, L&T, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Sesa Sterlite and Tata Power among others.
IT majors rebounded on buying at lower levels while the weakness in the rupee also aided sentiment. Infosys ended up 3.2%, TCS gained 2% and Wipro ended up 0.3%.
Other gainers include, Sun Pharma, SBI, Dr Reddys Labs and Hero MotoCorp.
Among other shares, ITD Cementation India ended up 4.4% at Rs 304 on BSE, extending its month long rally on expectation of the company is the frontrunner to develop the Ganga river-front project.
Tech Mahindra ended higher by 0.5% at Rs 2,016 after the company said it has entered into a global services alliance agreement with HPS, a Morocco-based provider of solutions to the cards and payments industry.
Future Retail has dipped 8% to end at Rs 133 after its board approved to issue equity shares to Brand Equity Treaties, an investor in the company, at price of Rs 130 on preferential basis. The issue price is about 11% discount over Tuesday's closing price of Rs 146 on the BSE.
Shares of JMT Auto ended locked in 5% upper circuit at Rs 406 after the board approved bonus issue and increase in authorised share capital of the company.
L&T Finance Holdings has dipped nearly 6% to end at Rs 77.20 after L&T, the promoter of the company, proposes to sell over 16.55 million shares in L&T Finance Holdings at a floor price of Rs 74 per share. This translates into about 10% discount over Tuesday's closing price of Rs 81.90 on the NSE.
In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap slipped 1% and Small-cap index ended 0.7% lower.
Market breadth was negative with 1549 losers and 1496 gainers on the BSE.
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