Sensex, Nifty surrender record gains on GST blues, mixed global cues

Mumbai: The BSE Sensex slipped from record highs to close down by over 14 points today on profit booking in recent gainers as investors turned cautious apprehending early glitches in GST rollout amid mixed global cues.

The BSE 30-share barometer, after charting the positive terrain for the better part of the session, touched a high of 31,392.53, but slipped to 31,261.49 in late afternoon deals on across-the-board profit booking, especially in power, banking and FMCG counters.

The index finally settled at 31,297.53 points, down 14.04 points, or 0.04 percent, over the previous close.

The gauge had rallied 255.17 points in the previous session to an all-time closing high of 31,311.57.

In highly volatile movements, the broader Nifty too shed 4.05 points, or 0.04 percent, to close at 9,653.50 after shuttling between 9,676.50 and 9,643.75 during the day.

“The fear on near term disruptions on account of GST rollout is making investors to stay cautious. The true impact will be known only when the new procedure starts, it could have some hiccups in the supply chain, changes in inventory/revenue and inflationary impact. Consequently, FIIs remains sellers in the market while active DIIs are keeping the overall environment positive,” says Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd.

Brokers said investors turned cautious and preferred to lighten their positions, particularly in banking sector stocks following the waiver of farm loans by Punjab.

Banking stocks came under heavy selling pressure after the Punjab government yesterday announced farm loan waiver for small and marginal farmers, which is likely to impact the PSU sector banks.

Central Bank of India fell 2.74 percent, Punjab National Bank 2.31 percent, Axis Bank 1.35 percent, Bank of Baroda 0.60 percent, HDFC Bank 0.55 percent, Kotak Bank 0.55 percent, Oriental Bank of Commerce 0.87 percent, Andhra Bank 0.51 percent, UCO Bank 1.57 percent, IDBI Bank 1.58 percent and Canara Bank 0.93 percent which pulled down the BSE banking index by 0.16 percent.

However, state-run SBI bucked the trend and rose 0.52 percent.

Tata Motors was up 3.28 percent on media reports that Tata Group may be considering listing its luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover through an initial public offer.

Weakness in some of the heavyweights in the 30-Sensex kitty like PowerGrid, Lupin, HDFC Ltd, Bajaj Auto, ITC Ltd, Maruti Suzuki, L&T, Hero MotoCorp, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma and Asian Paint, fell by up 2 percent and dragged the benchmark Sensex down from record highs.

However, gains in Tata Motors DVR, ONGC, Infosys, Cipla and Tata Steel, cushioned the fall.

Sectorwise, the BSE power index fell the most by losing 0.21 percent, followed by FMCG 0.16 percent and PSU 0.03 percent.

While, IT, consumer durables, oil&gas, realty, metal, healthcare and auto ended in positive zone.

The broader markets outperformed the key indices with the mid-cap index rising 0.19 percent and small-cap gained 0.16 percent as investors were seen widening their portfolios.

Meanwhile, FIIs sold shares worth Rs 250.39 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought shares to the tune of Rs 529.90 crore in yesterday’s trade, as per provisional data.

Globally, other key indices in Asia such as Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.81 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.31 percent and Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.14 percent.

In the Euro zone, Paris, London and Frankfurt stock exchanges were up in early session.