Indian stock markets traded lower on Thursday with the Bombay Stock Exchange ending 58 points lower at 31,213.36 and the NSE Nifty closing 17 points down at 9,647.25. Investors were wary over speculation about the United Kingdom elections, the European Central Bank’s policy meeting and fallout from the former Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey’s Congressional testimony.
“Global equity markets are awaiting for the outcome of the three events and their impact on the risks and demand,” said Deepak Jasani, head-retail research, HDFC Securities, according to Mint.
Tata Steel led the top gainers on Thursday and was followed by Dr Reddy’s Labs, HDFC, Tata Motors, Lupin, Aurobindo Pharma and Hindalco. TCS, GAIL, Hero MotoCorp, Asian Paints and Infosys trailed.
Information technology sector stocks took a beating during the day’s trading session. “Infosys’s high exposure to a shrinking application services business amid a shift to the cloud, low penetration in digital services and high vulnerability to potential changes in H1-B visa rules will remain key headwinds, in our view,” MoneyControl quoted a Goldman Sachs report.
Following the Reserve Bank of India’s announcement of its unchanged repo rate, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC Bank cashed in on the fallout.
The rupee was trading at 64.31 a dollar against Wednesday’s close of 64.33.
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