Sensex falls from record-high level, loses over 100 points in opening trade, RIL down 1%

Equity benchmark BSE Sensex gave up the record-highs it scaled on Wednesday to open over 100 points lower on Thursday.

At 9.24 am, the 30-share strong BSE Sensex was trading over 114.47 points or 0.31% lower at 37,407.15, while the broader NSE Nifty was 37.00 points or 0.33% down at 11,309.20.

On Wednesday, markets had closed at record-high levels, gaining over a 100 points. The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday announced its decision to hike its key lending rate, or repo rate, by 25 basis points citing increasing inflationary pressures.

This was the central bank’s monetary policy committee’s second consecutive rate hike decision, following the 25 bps rate hike in its June policy meet.

In the Sensex pack, losses were majorly led by Vedanta, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, M&M, HDFC and Yes Bank, losing up to 2.38% in early morning trade. Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), the stock driving the Sensex’s record gains was down by more than 1%.

Sectorally, auto,metal, basic materials, realty, financials, and banking stocks were leading the losses, lagging by as much as 1.56% in early trade.

Market breadth on the NSE Nifty was bearish, with 36 stocks out of the 50-strong Nifty pack seen declining against only 14 advances.

Meanwhile, the rupee hit a one-month high against the US dollar, gainging 17 paise to trade at 68.26 per dollar after the RBI maintained its growth outlook for the economy.

On Wednesday, the rupee had gained 11 paise against the US currency to end at a fresh two-week high of 68.43.

First Published: Aug 02, 2018 09:33 IST