Sensex tanks 383 pts on F&O expiry; Nifty ends below 11,000

Mumbai, Aug. 29 (PTI): Benchmark indices nursed losses for the second straight session on Thursday, dragged by heavy selling in banking and financial stocks, as August series derivatives expired amid tepid global cues.

After a highly volatile session, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 382.91 points, or 1.02 per cent, lower at 37,068.93.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty shed 97.80 points, or 0.89 per cent, to finish at 10,948.30.

Most Asian markets ended in the red amid reports that the US and China are preparing for their next round of trade negotiations in September, while European equities opened in the positive territory.

Top laggards among the Sensex pack included Yes Bank, SBI, HDFC, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, ITC, RIL, M&M, Tata Motors and ICICI Bank, losing up to 3.61 per cent.

On the other hand, Sun Pharma, Vedanta, NTPC, ONGC, Asian Paints, Infosys and HUL were the top gainers, spurting up to 5.31 per cent.

Besides continued concerns over an impending global recession, domestic market witnessed high volatility on the back of weekly and monthly expiration of the August futures and options (F&O) contracts, experts said.

“Further policy measures awaited are expected to bring some clarity over the market trend, however for the time being it’s better to focus on to defensive segments like IT and pharma stocks,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Sectorally, BSE bankex, finance, energy, auto, FMCG and industrials indices fell up to 1.92 per cent.

Healthcare, metal, realty, power, oil and gas, utilities and telecom climbed up to 1.50 per cent.

The broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices too fell up to 0.62 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hang Seng, Kospi and Nikkei settled on a negative note, while Shanghai Composite Index ended in the green.

Equities in Europe were trading significantly higher in their respective early sessions.

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee appreciated marginally to 71.73 against the US dollar intra-day.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, slipped 0.03 per cent to USD 59.91 per barrel.