Mumbai, Nov. 5 (PTI): Indian equities halted their seven-session rising streak on Tuesday, with the benchmark Sensex skidding from its record closing high as participants took this opportunity to book profits in recent high-flying stocks.
The BSE gauge Sensex settled 53.73 points, or 0.13 per cent, lower at 40,248.23.
Starting off positively, the 30-share BSE index went on to hit a high of 40,466.55 before slipping to a day’s low of 40,053.55.
The broader NSE Nifty too slipped 24.10 points, or 0.20 per cent, to close at 11,917.20.
Thus, both indices snapped their seven straight sessions of rise, the longest stretch of gains in over seven months. The domestic market rally was mainly attributed to encouraging quarterly earnings, sustained foreign fund inflows and positive global cues.
Meanwhile, fresh optimism on trade talks between the US and China pushed global equities indices higher.
On the Sensex chart, top losers included IndusInd Bank, Sun Pharma, Infosys, Tata Steel and M&M, shedding up to 2.40 per cent.
On the other hand, Yes Bank was the biggest gainer, rising 3.40 per cent, after ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala bought approximately 1.3 crore shares of the company for around INR 87 crore through open market transactions.
Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, SBI, Bajaj Auto, ITC, Hero MotoCorp and Tech Mahindra too rose up to 2.77 per cent.
Sectorally, BSE consumer durables, healthcare, capital goods, metal, energy, oil and gas, realty and IT indices fell up to 1.28 per cent.
While BSE telecom and FMCG ended in the green, rising up to 1.47 per cent.
Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices fell up to 1.13 per cent.
“The market has taken a breather and this happens whenever we see profit-taking in auto stocks. In fact it’s most sensitive sector for any economy and now a days along with market experts even retailers are tracking it closely,” Shrikant Chouhan, Senior Vice-President, Equity Technical Research, Kotak Securities, said.
He further said that excitement is missing in the market as majority of the index participants have already declared their Q2 numbers and now traders will wait for either domestic developments or global development on the trade tariff front.
Investors also took note of India’s decision to pull out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), weighing on trading sentiment.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday conveyed India’s decision not to join the RCEP deal at a summit meeting of the 16-nation bloc, effectively wrecking its aim to create the world’s largest free trade area having half of the world’s population.
Analysts said further contraction in service PMI in October due to muted demand also influenced investors to turn cautious.
The country’s service sector activities declined for the second straight month in October and business confidence was impacted amid concerns that challenging economic conditions might linger, says a report.
The IHS Markit India Services Business Activity Index stood at 49.2 in October and a reading below 50 indicates contraction.
Globally, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul settled higher on optimism over the US-China trade deal.
Exchanges in Europe were also trading on a positive note in their respective early deals.
Meanwhile, the Indian rupee appreciated by 8 paise to 70.69 against the US dollar.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.82 per cent to USD 62.65 per barrel.
