Sensex drops below 35,000-mark ahead of RBI policy outcome

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Mumbai: The BSE Sensex fell over 300 points Friday, extending its losing run for the third day, ahead of the RBI’s bi-monthly policy meet outcome amid weak global cues. The 30-share index after cracking the 35,000-mark by falling over 335 points to touch a low of 34,833.81, pared some losses to quote 194.44 points, or 0.55 per cent lower at 34,974.72.

It lost 1,356.98 points in the previous two sessions on rupee woes and boiling crude oil prices. Sectoral indices led by oil and gas, PSU, infrastructure, auto and banking stocks cracked up to 10.27 per cent. Stocks of state-run oil companies were under selling pressure as the government Thursday announced a Rs 2.50 per litre cut in petrol and diesel prices after it reduced excise duty by Rs 1.50 a litre and asked oil companies to absorb another Re 1.

Shares of BPCL, HPCL and IOC were trading sharply lower by up to 20.50 per cent on nervous selling by investors. The NSE Nifty also dropped by 90.40 points, or 0.85 per cent, to 10,508.85. Brokers said investors offloaded their positions, tracking a selloff in global markets as US Treasury surged to multi-year highs on robust economic data and comments from the Federal Reserve, sparking fears of accelerating inflation. Besides, caution ahead of RBI’s monetary policy announcement which expected to hike interest rates by 25 basis points, too, dented sentiments, they added.

Shares of ONGC, Bajaj auto, HUL, ITC, M&M, RIL, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, Adani Ports, HDFC Bank, NTPC, Vedanta, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel and Axis Bank tanked up to 11.27 per cent. On the other hand, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, Infosys, Yes Bank, PowerGrid, TCS and Kotak Bank bucked market trend, and were trading in the green, rising up to 2 per cent. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 2,760.63 crore Thursday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,823.59 crore, provisional data showed. Among other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, Strait Times and Taiwan indices fell up to 1.73 per cent. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average too ended lower Thursday.