Sensex slips for 4th day, down 333 points on rupee, trade war worries

The broader NSE Nifty closed below the 10,600 mark by plunging 98.15 points, or 0.84 per cent, to 11,582.35 after shuttling between 11,567.40 and 11,751.80.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

The BSE benchmark Sensex posted its fourth straight session fall on Monday, losing 333 points in a late sell-off due to nagging worries over continuous rupee depreciation, rising crude oil prices and global trade war tensions.

The 30-share index saw this onslaught towards the fag end of the session due to a widespread selling in FMCG, realty, power and banks stocks.

The Indian currency on Monday collapsed to a new lifetime low of 71.21 against the US dollar, raising fresh concerns on the macroeconomic front.

Adding to the woes, the country's manufacturing sector activity eased for the second consecutive month in August.

Investors are closely watching developments on global trade war front after the US President Donald Trump last week said he would go for imposing new tariffs on China.

International crude oil prices have been rising on fears that the US sanctions on Iran may hit supplies although the price hike has still been limited amid hopes that Saudi Arabia, Russia and the US will make up for the shortfall.

"Strong growth in Q1 GDP supported a fair start to the market whereas in due course profit-booking emerged due to concern on trade tensions and surge in oil price. Continued weak trend in emerging market currencies and current stretched valuation are some of the factors that influenced investors to stay sideline," Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd, said.

Starting on a positive note, the 30-share Sensex soared over 289 points to hit a high of 38,934.35 in early trade boosted by good first-quarter GDP data and recovery in rupee but gave up its gains completely following late sell-offs, which dragged it down to a low of 38,270.01 after data showed that manufacturing PMI has slowed in August.

It finally settled at one-week low of 38,312.52, showing a hefty loss of 332.55 points, or 0.86 per cent.

The gauge had lost 251.56 points in the last three sessions.

The broader NSE Nifty closed below the 10,600 mark by plunging 98.15 points, or 0.84 per cent, to 11,582.35 after shuttling between 11,567.40 and 11,751.80.

Both indices recorded the biggest single-day fall since August 2, when the BSE had lost 356.46 points and the NSE Nifty 101.50.

The country's manufacturing sector activity eased for the second consecutive month in August, mainly on account of slower gains in output and decline in fresh orders, a monthly survey said Monday.

The Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 51.7 in August from 52.3 in July, as operating conditions improved at the slowest pace since May.

Meanwhile, official data released after market hours Friday showed India's economy grew at two-year high of 8.2 per cent in the April-June quarter of 2018-19 on strong performance of manufacturing and agriculture sectors, increasing its lead over China to remain the world's fastest growing major economy.

Among the Sensex pack, Hindustan Unilver was the biggest loser, plunging by 4.58 per cent, followed by powerGrid 2.92 per cent.

Other laggards included Axis Bank 2.69 per cent, ICICI Bank 2.51 per cent, ITC 2.01 per cent, M&M 2 per cent, Maruti Suzuki 1.90 per cent, ONGC 1.61 per cent, Kotak Bank 1.19 per cent, TCS 1.12 per cent, Yes Bank 1.11 per cent, Asian Paints 1.03 per cent, NTPC 1.02 per cent, RIL 0.85 per cent, SBI 0.79 per cent, IndusInd Bank 0.62 per cent, Hero Motocorp 0.49 per cent, Infosys 0.45 per cent, L&T 0.35 per cent, Tata Steel 0.19 per cent and Tata Motors 0.15 per cent.

In contrast, Wipro was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, by surging 2.49 per cent after the IT services major on Sunday said it has won an over $1.5 billion engagement from Alight Solutions LLC, its biggest deal till date.

Other gainers included Bajaj Auto 0.68 per cent, HDFC Bank 0.58 per cent, Sun Pharma 0.57 per cent, Coal India 0.47 per cent, Vedanta 0.44 per cent, HDFC 0.42 per cent, Adani Ports 0.34 per cent and Bharti Airtel 0.23 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, the BSE FMCG index emerged the worst performer by falling 2.14 per cent, followed by realty 1.23 per cent, power 1.22 per cent, utilities 1.17 per cent, bankex 1.15 per cent, auto 0.85 per cent, oil & gas 0.76, energy 0.76 per cent, finance 0.66 per cent, PSU 0.62 per cent, IT 0.60 per cent, teck 0.42 per cent, infrastructure 0.34 per cent, capital goods 0.34 per cent and healthcare 0.02 per cent.

While, consumer durables rose by 0.39 per cent and metal up by 0.26 per cent.

A similar trend was also extended to the broader markets as investors indulged in cutting down their portfolios, pulling down the mid-cap index by 0.45 per cent, while small- cap index shed 0.17 per cent.

Overseas, Asian stocks were ended lower as trade-war fears increased after the US and Canada missed a deal deadline set for Friday and uncertainty rose about escalating tariffs between the US and China. Activity in China's factories expanded at a slower rate in August.

In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.63 per cent. Shanghai Composite Index edged lower by 0.17 per cent while the Nikkei Japan shed 0.69 per cent.

In the Eurozone, Paris CAC 40 fell 0.24 per cent and Frankfurt's DAX was down by 0.23 per cent in their late deals.

London's FTSE, however, was up 0.78 per cent.  Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 212.81 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 171.92 crore on Friday, as per provisional data.