Investor sentiment at low ebb

Mumbai:Benchmark Sensex declined by 143 points, while Nifty slipped below the 19,400 level on Thursday due to selling in IT, FMCG and oil shares and foreign fund outflows.

In a volatile trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 143.41 points or 0.22 per cent to settle at 64,832.20. During the day, it fell 206.85 points or 0.31 per cent to 64,768.76. The broader Nifty dipped 48.20 points or 0.25 per cent to 19,395.30.

Among the Sensex firms, Hindustan Unilever fell the most by 1.58 per cent. Tech Mahindra declined 1.33 per cent, Infosys by 1.22 per cent, and Reliance Industries by 1.11 per cent. Bajaj Finance, Tata Consultancy Services, Titan and UltraTech Cement also closed lower. Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, Larsen & Toubro and Maruti were among the gainers.

“Reflecting the mixed global sentiments, the Indian market is mired in a range-bound trend with the Nifty index not able to breach above the key level of 19,500. FII selling has moderated but inflows continue to be muted on concerns of an elevated interest rate and a global slowdown,” said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

“Markets remained range-bound for the third day in a row and ended marginally lower," said Ajit Mishra, SV-P (technical research), Religare Broking Ltd.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs84.55 crore, according to exchange data.

Among the indices, FMCG fell by 0.88 per cent, oil & gas declined 0.75 per cent, IT (0.74%), teck (0.72%), services (0.66%) and consumer durables (0.62%). Consumer Discretionary, healthcare, utilities, auto and realty were among the gainers. In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge declined 0.27 per cent while the midcap index gained 0.06 per cent.