Sensex, Nifty fall for fourth consecutive day

The Indian equity benchmark indices fell for the fourth consecutive session on Friday as high crude prices, political uncertainty in Karnataka and a mixed trend in the global markets in the backdrop of the U.S.-China trade talks affected investor sentiment.

The benchmark Sensex fell 300.82 points or 0.86% to close at 34,848.30 as 23 of the 30-share pack ended the day in the red. Incidentally, the index has lost more than 700 points in the last four consecutive sessions.

Weak breadth

The dampened sentiment was further corroborated by the weak market breadth with more than 1,900 stocks declining as against only 719 gainers.

The broader Nifty of the National Stock Exchange lost 86.3 points or 0.81% to close at 10,596.40. This was also the lowest close for the Nifty since April 25.

“The Supreme Court direction to Yeddyurappa to seek a vote of confidence on Saturday weakened the market that was already reeling under the international cues of rising bond yields and the surging crude oil prices,” said V.K. Sharma, head, private client group & capital market strategy, HDFC Securities while adding that the markets were likely to open with a sharp gap based on the outcome of the event.

Among the Sensex pack, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, ICICI Bank and L&T all lost more than 3% each. Coal India, NTPC, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and ONCG also ended in the red.