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The Sensex and Nifty ended lower on Thursday due to profit-booking by funds and retail investors ahead of US non-farm payrolls report on Friday which is expected to give a better idea about the Federal Reserve's likely policy stance.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended down by 114.77 points or 0.41 per cent at 28,106.21 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty closed lower by 34.4 points or 0.39 per cent at 8,709.55.
Barring oil & gas and PSU, all other BSE sectoral indices ended in the negative zone. Among them, realty index fell the most by 1.48 per cent, power 1.18 per cent, healthcare 0.99 per cent and IT 0.87 per cent. On the other hand, oil & gas index was the star-performer and was up 2.55 per cent and PSU 0.04 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were GAIL (+3.48%), Reliance (+2.00%), HUL (+1.42%), ONGC (+0.73%) and Maruti (+0.35%), while the major losers were NTPC (-2.42%), Cipla (-2.3%), M&M (-1.9%), Power Grid (-1.6%) and ICICI Bank (-1.58%).
US services sector
US services sector activity hit an 11-month high in September, an encouraging sign for economic growth that may increase the prospect of a Federal Reserve rate hike this year.
October payrolls data out on Friday is expected to give a better idea about the Fed's likely stance.
“Markets have taken cognizance of the fact that there are a lot of events to look up to; taking stock of the situation is what we are seeing now,” said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
“It looks like the focus will now be on companies' performance and other macro cues.”
Global markets
Growing expectations that US interest rates will rise before the end of the year lifted the dollar and bank shares on Thursday but took the shine off gold, one of the year’s best-performing assets.
European shares retreated on Thursday after easyJet dropped to its lowest in more than three years, although the beaten-down banking sector rose for the third straight session.
Asian shares firmed on Thursday, encouraged by stronger US economic data and a rise in oil prices, while growing prospects of a U.S. rate hike hit gold and the boosted the dollar to one-month highs versus the yen.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 per cent while Japan's Nikkei gained 0.9 per cent.
Major US stock indexes gained on Wednesday, boosted by financial shares amid encouraging economic data and by the energy sector as oil prices surged to June highs.
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