Sensex shrugs off GDP rebound, sinks 316 points

Markets nursed losses for the fourth straight session today as upbeat second quarter GDP numbers failed to dispel concerns over a widening fiscal deficit.

The BSE benchmark Sensex dived 316 points to close below the 33,000-mark, while the broader Nifty declined 104.75 points to 10,121.80.

It was a forgettable week for both the key indices, with the Sensex recording a fall of 846.30 points, or 2.51 per cent and the NSE Nifty losing 267.90 points, or 2.57 per cent.

"Despite data pointing to an improvement in the macro- economic environment, participants remained cautious and chose to sell stocks in the latter half of the trading day," said Karthikraj Lakshmanan, Senior Fund Manager ? Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.

The 30-share benchmark, after scaling a high of 33,300.81 in early deals, slipped into the negative zone to touch 32,797.78, before settling at 32,832.94, down 316.41 points, or 0.95 per cent.

This was its weakest closing since November 15, when it had finished at 32,760.44

The 50-issue NSE Nifty too cracked the 10,200-mark and hit a low of 10,108.55 before finishing 104.75 points, or 1.02 per cent down at 10,121.80.

Reversing a five-quarter slide in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, the economy bounced back from a three-year low to expand by 6.3 per cent in July-September as manufacturing revved up and businesses adjusted to the new GST tax regime, data released after market hours yesterday showed.

However, participants remained risk-averse as India's fiscal deficit at the end of October hit 96.1 per cent of the budget estimate for 2017-18, mainly due to lower revenue realisation and rise in expenditure.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth net Rs 1,500.76 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares to the tune of Rs 1,202.57 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.
Small and mid-cap indices fell 1.16 per cent and 0.95 per cent in today's session, respectively.

The session saw buying in select auto stocks such as Maruti Suzuki, TVS Motor and Ashok Leyland, buoyed by encouraging sales data for November.
Among Sensex constituents, Adani Ports suffered the most by diving 3 per cent, followed by Bajaj Auto 2.99 per cent despite the company reporting a 21 per cent rise in total sales in November.

Other big losers were Bharti Airtel (2.74 per cent), Sun Pharma (2.59 per cent), SBI (2.47 per cent), Dr Reddy's (2.44 per cent), Tata Steel (2.08 per cent), HUL (1.71 per cent), Infosys (1.69 per cent), Power Grid (1.51 per cent), Coal India (1.43 per cent), RIL (1.38 per cent), Tata Motors (1.36 per cent), HDFC LTD (1.11 per cent) and Hero MotoCorp (0.97 per cent).

However, Kotak Bank rose 0.23 per cent followed by NTPC 0.14 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, realty dropped by 1.99 per cent followed by metal 1.75 per cent, infrastructure 1.63 per cent, oil & gas 1.47 per cent, PSU 1.46 per cent, teck 1.43 per cent, power 1.38 per cent, IT 1.29 per cent and auto 0.99 per cent.

Globally, other Asian markets traded mixed after investors shifted nervously as US President Donald Trump's much-hyped tax-cut plans hung in the balance after a plan to push them through hit unexpected hurdles.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng finished 0.35 per cent lower, while Korea fell 0.04 per cent. Japan's Nikkei, however, rose 0.41 per cent and Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.01 per cent.

European shares were down in their early deals. Frankfurt's DAX was down 0.77 per cent and Paris CAC 40 lost 0.76 per cent. London's FTSE too fell 0.18 per cent.