Sensex ends marginally lower as IT stocks slump

Rajalakshmi S Updated - January 12, 2018 at 06:07 PM.

sensex

The Sensex and Nifty ended slightly lower on Friday, reversing three straight sessions of gains, as Tata Consultancy Services Ltd slumped on worries about its future following key management changes, while its peers fell on profit-taking.

The broader NSE index closed down 6.85 points or 0.08 per cent at 8,400.35, while the benchmark BSE index ended down 9.1 points or 0.03 per cent at 27,238.06.

For the week, the NSE gained 1.9 per cent, while the BSE advanced 1.8 per,cent, their third consecutive weekly gains.

Tata Consultancy Services fell 4.1 per cent, while Infosys Ltd fell 2.4 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, IT index fell the most by 1.89 per cent, followed by TECk 1.72 per cent, auto 0.77 per cent and power 0.52 per cent. On the other hand, FMCG index was up 1.21 per cent, banking 0.32 per cent, healthcare 0.16 per cent and oil & gas 0.15 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were Axis Bank (+3.9%), GAIL (+2.3%), ITC (+2.13%), HDFC (+1.97%), and Sun Pharma (+1.14%), while the major losers were TCS (-3.9%), Infosys (-2.49%), NTPC (-1.55%), Maruti (-1.46%) and Hero MotoCorp (-1.14%).

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 12.77 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 110.08 crore yesterday.

A report by IFA Global said: "The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower by 63 points and Nasdaq index closed lower by 16 points. US equities closed lower on speculation post-election market moves went too far, with investors awaiting corporate earnings and fresh economic data for clues on the economy's strength. European stock markets closed on a mixed note, with FTSE closed marginally higher by 2 points and CAC lower by 24 points. European markets ended the day on a negative note ahead of German WPI number that will be released today but is expected to have relatively less impact on the currency."

Asian shares dipped on Friday but was on track for weekly gains while the dollar was poised for a losing week, with investors disappointed that President-elect Donald Trump failed to elaborate on stimulus plans at a news conference two days ago.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.2 per cent, after rising to its highest levels since late October in the previous session. It was up 1.8 percent for the week.

The three major US stock indexes closed lower on Thursday as investors waited for fourth-quarter corporate earnings and details of US President-elect Donald Trump's economic policy eight days ahead of his inauguration.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 63.28 points, or 0.32 per cent, to close at 19,891, the S&P 500 dropped 4.88 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 2,270.44 and the Nasdaq Composite dipped 16.16 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 5,547.49.

Published on January 13, 2017 10:45