Sensex begins new series on muted note, Fed summit eyed

Markets fell on the first session of the new F&O series today with the BSE Sensex down 54 points at 27,782.25 as investors chose to stay on the sidelines ahead of a speech by the US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.

On a weekly basis, the Sensex fell 294.75 points or 1.04 per cent and the NSE Nifty slipped 94.35 points or 1.08 per cent. Both the indexes posted second straight weekly losses.

Shares of Welspun India despite rising 7 per cent during the day, pared all of its initial gains to end lower by 8.64 per cent at Rs 49.70. The scrip had plunged by 47 per cent in the past four sessions.

Tata Motors rose 2.01 per cent to Rs 503.65 inspite of posting 57 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 2,260.40 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, due to post Brexit adverse foreign exchange impacting its British arm JLR.

"The market was a bit cautious and traded on a wait and watch mode as the investors are not ready to take risk ahead of the Fed chair's speech. Any hawkish view might result in outflow of foreign funds from the emerging markets like India in the near term," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

The 30-share Sensex after opening higher, stayed in the negative zone for the most part of the session and touched a low of 27,696.99. The gauge finally settled 53.66 points or 0.19 per cent down at 27,782.25.

The 50-share NSE Nifty ended 19.65 points or 0.23 per cent down at 8,572.55, after trading between 8,622.95 and 8,547.55.

Broader markets showed mixed trend as mid-cap rose 0.17 per cent, while small-cap indices was down 0.12 per cent.

Elsewhere, Asian stocks ended mixed while European stocks opened lower, with investors focusing on a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen later in the session for hints about the timing of a US interest rate hike.

European markets were also lower as key indices in France, Germany and the UK fell up to 0.31 per cent.

Asian indices, like in Japan and Singapore, fell by up to 1.18 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng moved up by 0.41 per cent.

Back home, 17 scrips out of the 30-share Sensex pack ended lower while 13 closed higher.

Major losers included Wipro (3.00 pc), L&T (2.02 pc), Adani Ports (1.75 pc), Infy (1.52 pc), SBI (1.34 pc), Sun Pharma (1.16 pc), HUL (0.85 pc), Bharti Airtel (0.85 pc), Power Grid (0.85 pc), TCS (0.82 pc), ICICI Bank (0.77 pc) and Lupin (0.68 pc).

However, Tata Motors rose 2.01 per cent followed by GAIL 1.61 per cent, Asian Paints 1.51 per cent, RIL 1.44 per cent and Cipla 0.88 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral and industries, IT fell 1.25 per cent followed by Capital Goods 1.24 per cent, Realty 1.15 per cent, Teck 0.98 per cent, Healthcare 0.67 per cent, Bankex 0.59 per cent and Power 0.49 per cent, however Consumer Durables rose by 1.46 per cent followed by oil&gas by 0.70 per cent, Auto by 0.62 per cent and Telecom by 0.33 per cent.

The market breadth remained positive as 1,547 stocks ended in green, 1,094 closed in red while 209 ruled steady.

The total turnover on BSE was to Rs 2,799.42 crore, lower than turnover of Rs 2,922.56 crore registered during the previous trading session.