Stocks surrendered early gains to finish with losses on Thursday as lingering worries over global trade and lack of definitive domestic triggers held investorsback.
Unabated capital outflows by foreign funds and a weakening rupee too weighed on sentiment, brokers said.
The 30-share BSE Sensex, which rose over 131 points in morning trade, soon lost momentum in choppy trade. It finally ended at 35,432.39, down 114.94 points, or 0.32 %.
The broader NSE Nifty, after shuttling between 10,809.60 and 10,725.90, finished 30.95 points, or 0.29 % lower at 10,741.10.
Most Asian and European markets traded lower on uncertainties surrounding US-China trade relations.
Meanwhile, India slapped retaliatory tariffs on a clutch of goods imported from the US, joining the EU and China in taking counter-measures against duties imposed by the Trump administration.
Minutes of RBI’s June policy meeting, released after market hours on Wednesday, flagged inflation risks on the back of factors like firm oil prices and volatile global financial markets, which further sapped confidence.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net sold shares worth ₹1,442.61 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹1,473.65 crore yesterday, provisional data showed.
“Market continued to be under pressure as trade tensions between the US and China is getting escalated.
“Emerging markets including India were under-performing due to FII selling. OPEC meeting tomorrow will be a key event, relaxation in production cuts will provide some relief to Indian markets,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
Bucking the trend, Reliance Industries continued its upward trajectory, spurting 1.22 % to a fresh closing high of ₹1,032.35.
Other index gainers were ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors and Infosys.
However, M&M emerged as the biggest loser in the Sensex pack by falling 2.11 %, followed by ONGC 1.90 %, PowerGrid 1.88 %, SBI 1.67 %, Sun Pharma 1.67 %, Asian Paints 1.39 % and Bajaj Auto 1.37 %, among others.
Among the sectoral indices, healthcare fell 1.11 %, capital goods 1.09 %, metal 0.98 %, infrastructure 0.93 %, power 0.91 %, auto 0.90 %, PSU 0.85 %, consumer durables 0.84 %, FMCG 0.58 %, realty 0.51 %, bankex 0.38 %, teck 0.31 % and IT 0.12 %.
Oil and gas, however, managed to end in the green, inching up 0.60 %.
The broader markets too came under selling pressure. The BSE small-cap and mid-cap indices fell by 0.79 % and 0.53 %, respectively.
Shares of Bank of Maharashtra slumped 1.19 % following the arrest of its chief executive officer in a cheating case.
Globally, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.35 %, Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.37 %, while Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.61 %.
In the Eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAX dropped 0.51 %, while Paris CAC 40 lost 0.21 % in early deals. London’s FTSE was up 0.05 %.