New Delhi/Mumbai, May 19 (H.S.): Domestic equity markets closed lower on Tuesday, the second trading session of the week, amid concerns over the West Asia crisis. Late-session selling dragged the BSE Sensex down by 114 points, while the NSE Nifty also ended lower by 32 points.
The stock market erased its early gains and settled in negative territory by the close of trading. The 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 114.19 points, or 0.15 per cent, to close at 75,200.85. Similarly, the NSE Nifty slipped 31.95 points, or 0.14 per cent, to end at 23,618.
During intra-day trade, the Sensex had surged as much as 431.23 points, or 0.57 per cent, to touch 75,746.27. However, mounting concerns over the Indian rupee hitting a record low, coupled with selling pressure in heavyweight stocks such as HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries, weighed heavily on market sentiment. Elevated crude oil prices amid continuing global uncertainty also impacted investor confidence.
Among the Sensex constituents, shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank, UltraTech Cement, Titan, Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel and Sun Pharma emerged as the major losers. On the other hand, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Eternal and Tata Consultancy Services were among the gainers.
The Indian rupee weakened to an all-time low of 96.60 against the US dollar during trading. However, it later recovered slightly to trade at 96.52 (provisional). Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude declined by 1.80 per cent to 110 US dollars per barrel.
In other Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi and Japan’s Nikkei closed lower, while China’s Shanghai SSE Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended with gains. Major European markets were trading in positive territory during afternoon trade.
It is noteworthy that on Monday, both the Sensex and Nifty had ended with marginal gains. The Sensex had risen 77.05 points to close at 75,315.04, while the Nifty had advanced 6.45 points to settle at 23,649.95.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
