The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex closed 363.79 points down at 31,710.99 on Tuesday, after shedding 450 points in morning trade. The National Stock Exchange Nifty fell below the 9,800 mark before recovering to finish at 9,827.15 points, 88.80 points below Monday’s close.
Both indices had closed at record highs on Monday. The decline in the stock market on Tuesday was the result of heavy profit booking by investors and concerns about United States President Donald Trump’s economic agenda after his administration failed to pass a healthcare legislation, Mint reported.
Sensex and Nifty were also pulled down by ITC’s stocks, which dropped by more than 12% on both bourses after the Goods and Services Tax Council raised the cess on cigarettes on Monday. Shares of other cigarette manufacturers such as Godfrey Phillips India and VST Industries also suffered.
FMCG, oil and gas, consumer durables and realty firms also performed poorly on Tuesday.
On the BSE Index, Reliance Industries, the State Bank of India, Tata Motors DVR and HDFC Bank were the biggest losers. Asian Paints, BHEL, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank and ONGC were the top five gainers.
On the Nifty, Eicher Motors, Asian Paints, HCL Technologies, Sun Pharma and Axis Bank performed the best. ITC, Aurobindo Pharma, Reliance Industries, GAIL and Tata Power were the biggest losers.
Other Asian markets had a mixed day on Tuesday. The Hong Kong Hang Seng, Taiwan TSEC 50 Index and Shanghai SE Composite Index ended in green, but Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed nearly 119 points down.
The Indian rupee, which opened at 64.35 to the dollar on Tuesday, slid to 64.40 at 4.04 pm.
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