Sensex, Nifty edge lower on rupee woes, derivatives expiry

Among the gainers, Sun Pharma topped by rising 3.03 per cent as the weak rupee tempted buyers to accumulate shares of pharma exporters.

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty fell for the second consecutive session on Thursday as investors fretted over plunging rupee and rising crude oil prices, while August futures and options (F&O) expiry further added to market volatility.

The BSE benchmark Sensex slipped 33 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 38,690.

It shuttled between 38,819.06 and 38,581.83.

The NSE Nifty declined 15 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 11,677.

Intra-day, the 50-share index moved between 11,698.80 and 11,639.70.

Investors offloaded their long bets in F&O segment instead of carrying them forward to the next series for September, adding to volatility.

The Indian rupee plunged to a new life-time low of 70.85 against the dollar (intra-day) on Thursday.

Further, global oil prices going past $77 a barrel on a fall in US crude inventories and expected disruptions to supply from Iran and Venezuela dented investor sentiments on domestic bourses.

However, investors will be keenly awaiting the June-quarter GDP data to be announced on Friday, which will be one of the factors to decide the market course.

"Profit booking extended today as weaker rupee, rise in oil prices and F&O expiry put pressure on domestic markets.

“Rupee hit fresh low of 70.8 as US dollar was gaining strength against emerging market currencies.

“Weak global markets also added pain to domestic market sentiments.

“Q1 GDP is the key data to be watchful tomorrow, consensus expects GDP to grow by 7.6 per cent which may bring some respite to markets," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd, said.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,415.87 crore on a net basis, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities to the tune of Rs 1,114.36 crore on Wednesday, provisional data showed.

The BSE Sensex had retreated from a life-time high of 38,989.65, falling 173.70 points in the previous session.

IndusInd Bank emerged as the worst performer in the Sensex pack, plunging 1.62 per cent, while Maruti Suzuki lost 1.62 per cent.

Other laggards included RIL 1.57 per cent, Asian Paint 1.15 per cent, Yes Bank 1.12 per cent, Axis Bank 1.07 per cent, Kotak Bank 0.89 per cent, HDFC Ltd 0.85 per cent, Tata Motors 0.75 per cent, HDFC Bank 0.54 per cent, Coal India 0.52 per cent, Hero MotoCorp 0.52 per cent, SBI 0.48 per cent, Adani Ports 0.35 per cent and L&T 0.14 per cent.

Among the gainers, Sun Pharma topped by rising 3.03 per cent as the weak rupee tempted buyers to accumulate shares of pharma exporters.

Other gainers were Tata Steel 2.40 per cent, ITC Ltd 2.08 per cent, Bharti Airtel 2.07 per cent, NTPC 1.93 per cent, PowerGrid 1.16 per cent, ICICI Bank 1.10 per cent, Vedanta 0.83 per cent, HUL 0.70 per cent, TCS 0.66 per cent, Infosys 0.51 per cent, Bajaj Auto 0.47 per cent, Wipro 0.35 per cent, M&M 0.33 per cent and ONGC 0.25 per cent.

Sector-wise, the BSE energy index suffered the most by falling 1.06 per cent, followed by finance 0.41 per cent, bankex 0.38 per cent, auto 0.33 per cent, consumer durables 0.26 per cent, capital goods 0.09 per cent and oil & gas 0.04 per cent.

While utilities moved up 1.43 per cent, telecom 1.27 per cent, FMCG 1.11 per cent, healthcare 0.85 per cent, metal 0.78 per cent, power 0.71 per cent, infrastructure 0.65 per cent, realty 0.44 per cent, PSU 0.39 per cent, teck 0.37 per cent and IT 0.32 per cent.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the mid-cap index rising 0.43 per cent and the small-cap gauge gained 0.27 per cent.

Shares of Reliance Infrastructure surged 5.54 per cent after the company yesterday said it has completed the Rs 18,800-crore deal for sale of its Mumbai energy business to Adani Transmission. Reliance Power too gained 5.93 per cent.

Brent crude was trading 0.36 per cent higher at $77.74 a barrel while WTI oil was up 0.30 per cent at $69.72 in Asian trade.

In Asian trade, stocks gave up earlier gains and fell as concerns persist over the development of the Sino-US trade spat.

Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.14 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.01 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei ending 0.09 per cent higher.

European shares too were trading weak in late morning deals as investors continued to monitor global trade talks and corporate earnings.

Key indices such as Frankfurt's DAX fell 1 per cent and Paris CAC declined 0.44 per cent. London's FTSE was also quoting 0.58 per cent lower.