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Sensex ends down 175 points; Nifty closes below 6,100
Benchmark share indices extended losses for the fifth straight session on Monday, amid a weakening rupee, after an encouraging US jobs data raised worries that the US Fed would start pruning its monetary stimulus measures earlier-than-expected.
The US Fed's easy money stance so far has resulted in huge foreign fund inflows into Indian equities.
Meanwhile, the FII flows steadily declined over the last few trading sessions which weighed on sentiments, raising concerns about a slowdown in buying volume.
At close, the Sensex was down 175 points or 0.8% at 20,491 and the Nifty dropped below the psychological 6,100 mark to end the day at 6,079, down 62 points or 1%.
Selling pressure gained momentum in the closing hours in broader markets.
The midcap index slipped 0.8% and the smallcap index was down 0.6%.
In the interim, trade deficit jumped in October after having fallen to a two-and-a-half-year low the previous month, as overseas purchases of gold picked up ahead of the festival season, provisional government data showed on Monday.
The deficit for the month stood at $10.56 billion, compared with $6.7 billion in September, the trade ministry said.
Rupee
There was no respite for the Indian currency and continued to steadily decline and breached the 63 per dollar mark in morning trade, tracking the Non-Deliverable Forwards (NDF) market coupled with dollar demand from Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
At 1600 hrs, the Rupee was quoting at 63.30 to a Dollar.
Global Markets
Asian shares fell to a four-week low on Monday as a surprise surge in U.S. jobs growth heightened worries the Federal Reserve will start reducing stimulus as soon as next month -- boosting the dollar against the euro, yen and emerging currencies.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.5%, hitting its lowest since October 11 and extending Friday's 1% drop.
Jakarta shares fell 0.8%, Thai stocks lost 1.5% and the Manila bourse dropped 1.7%.
The Chinese CSI300 Index rose 0.4% in a choppy session after touching a 2-1/2 month low, with investors awaiting the end of a four-day closed-door policy meeting of the Chinese Communist Party on Tuesday that will set the economic agenda for the next decade.
After a flat to negative opening, the European markets gained traction. All the major indices were up 0.1-0.2%.
Sectors & Stocks
On the sectoral front, BSE Capital Goods and Realty indices gave off 2-3% followed by PSU, Power, Bankex, Oil & Gas, Auto, FMCG, Consumer Durables and Metal indices declined by 1% each. However, Health Care and IT indices gained nearly 0.4-0.2%.
Shares of information technology companies were trading higher in otherwise weak market after the Indian rupee fell past 63 to the US dollar to an over seven-week low in early trade on Monday.
TCS, Tech Mahindra and Infosys from IT pack were up 0.2-1.3% on theBSE.
The only other gainers among the Sensex-30 were Dr Reddys Lab, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki and HDFC Bank up 0.1-3%.
Among the losers were Hindalco, L&T, ONGC, SBI, Tata Motors and Hero MotoCorp down 2-4%.
Bajaj Auto, Jindal Steel, NTPC, Hindustan Unilever, RIL, ICICI Bank, Gail India, Bharti Airtel, BHEL and Tata Power down 1-2% were the other notable losers.
Among other shares, Apollo Tyres was trading higher by 4 % at Rs 74.50 after a Delaware judge ruled that the company did not breach its obligation to close its $2.5-billion buyout of Cooper Tire & Rubber Co last month as originally agreed.
United Bank of India dipped over 8% at Rs 34.55 after reporting a net loss of Rs 490 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2013 due to higher provisioning for bad loans.
Divi’s Laboratories surged 8% at Rs 1,101 after reporting a strong 73.7% year-on-year (yoy) jump in standalone net profit at Rs 205 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2013 (Q2FY14) on back of higher sales and forex gain.
Ricoh India was locked in upper circuit of 20% at Rs 71.50 after the company said its foreign promoter proposing to delist the company’s equity shares from the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
United Breweries dipped nearly 6% to Rs 738, extending its Friday’s nearly 5% fall, after reporting a loss of Rs 18.57 crore for the Q2 due to lower sales and higher sales promotion costs.
Suven Life Sciences soared over 15% at Rs 76.35 on reporting seven-fold jump in standalone net.
Adani Enterprises surged 7% to Rs 233 on back of heavy volumes.
The market breadth was negative on the BSE. 1,346 stocks declined while 1,046 stocks advanced.
