The benchmark BSE Sensex fell by over 181.43 points on Wednesday – a three-week low – closing at 32,760.44 points. The NSE Nifty declined 68.55 points to close trade at 10,118.05.
The decline in the indices was triggered by investor concern over India’s trade deficit, which has widened to an almost three-year high of $14 billion (Rs 91,500 crore) for October, and exports fell 1.12%, Mint reported. Poor quarterly earnings by a few blue-chip companies and plummeting metal stocks, which tanked after prices fell on the global market, also contributed to the decline in Indian markets.
Pharmaceutical major Sun Pharma’s stock declined the most on the Sensex on Wednesday after the company reported a big drop in net profit on Tuesday. The other top losers on the Sensex were BHEL, ONGC, Bharti Airtel and National Thermal Power Corporation. The biggest gainers were Asian Paints, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank and Infosys.
Bharti Infratel was the biggest loser on the NSE. The other stocks that fell the most were Sun Pharma, Vedanta, UP Limited and Hindalco. The top five gainers on the Nifty were BPCL, Asian Paint, Ambuja Cements, Tech Mahindra and Eicher Motors.
All other major Asian markets also closed lower on Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost over 351 points, or 1.6%. The Hong Kong Hang Seng closed 300.43 points down. The Taiwan index shed over 56 points and the Shanghai SE Composite Index 27 points.
The Indian rupee closed at 65.34 against the United States dollar.
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