The muscle-flexing by the US and
North Korea ratcheted up global worries and made investors a
lot more anxious today, with the Sensex crashing 267 points to
a one-month low and the Nifty below 9,900.
Both snapped back into loss for the fourth straight day.
The Korean peninsula pot kept boiling as North Korea
upped the ante, defying the US President's "fire and fury"
warning and threatening to strike its military base in Guam.
The markets have already been downbeat reeling under the
regulatory clampdown after Sebi's Monday directive imposing
trading restrictions on suspected shell companies.
After opening lower, the Sensex recovered, but only to
slip again to hit a low of 31,422.80 before settling down
266.51 points, or 0.84 per cent, at 31,531.33. The level was
last seen on July 7 when it ended at 31,360.63.
The gauge had lost 527.57 points in the previous three
sessions.
The Nifty ended the day at 9,820.25, down 87.80 points,
or 0.89 per cent.
Lower-than-expected earnings by Tata Motors, Eicher
Motors and a few others soured risk appetite. Tata Motors
emerged as the top loser among Sensex constituents by slumping
8.60 per cent after the company's June quarter earnings failed
to meet market expectations.
"We believe that it is a moderation within the bull phase
due to geo-political tension... Additionally, domestic
confidence has fallen given Sebi's action over shell companies
while a slowdown in business growth will lead to downgrade in
earnings forecast for the next 1-2 quarters," said Vinod Nair,
Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
Sentiment remained depressed, largely in sync with weak
Asian markets and a lower opening in Europe. Market has been
going through a consolidation phase after hitting life highs
last week.
Other Sensex losers were Dr Reddy's, Sun Pharma, Cipla,
SBI, Lupin and PowerGrid, falling up to 4.77 per cent.
However, software exporters such as Infosys, Wipro and
TCS emerged unscathed with gains, after the rupee weakened
against the dollar, helping the BSE IT index close in the
green by rising 0.63 per cent.
The BSE realty index tanked the most, plunging 5.12 per
cent. Healthcare, auto and power followed.
Small-cap and mid-cap indices too fell by 2.90 per cent
and 2.64 per cent, respectively, on dilution of exposure by
retail investors.
(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
05:00 PM IST