Sensex closes at 1-mth low, hit by losses for 4th day

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.)