Sensex sheds 112 points; MAT fears resurface, rupee weigh too

Mumbai: Falling for the second straight day, the benchmark BSE Sensex dropped 112 points to 27,531.41 amid persistent selling pressure on resurfacing of retrospective taxation worries and disappointing earning numbers.

Massive fall in rupee and participants remaining sidelined ahead of expiry of May contracts too prompted investors to trim positions, traders said.

"With notices on MAT being sent to foreign investors, the fear of retrospective taxation has resurfaced...This has visibly eroded the bargain hunting interest that has been underpinning markets last week," said Anand James, Co Head Technical Research Desk at Geojit BNP Paribas.

Fed Chair?s indication that US central bank is likely to raise interest rates this year, may have has also put a cloud over Indian markets, he added.

At the Forex market, the rupee was trading 42 paise down at Rs 63.99 against the American currency (intra-day).

Falling for the second day in a row, the 30-share Sensex closed down 112.47 points or 0.41 percent at 27,531.41 -- the lowest closing level since May 15. It touched a high of 27,675.94 and a low of 27,473.54 during day's trade.

The 50-issue NSE Nifty fell by 30.90 points or 0.37 percent to 8,339.35 after hovering between 8,320.05 and 8,378.90 intra-day.

Shares of Refinery, Realty and FMCG sectors were the major losers on the day.

"Participants upheld the cautious approach due to prevailing volatility and preferred profit taking throughout the day," said Jayant Manglik, President-retail distribution of Religare Securities.

Slowing down of the foreign capital inflows also affected the market sentiment.

In the overseas market, Asian stocks ended mixed as key indices in China, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan firmed up by 0.12 to 2.02 percent, while indices in Singapore and South Korea fell in the range of 0.03 to 0.12 percent.

European stocks were trading lower in their early trade as fears lingered about the Greek debt situation. Key indices in France, Germany and UK were down between 0.05 and 0.49 percent.

"Investors prefer to stay sidelines ahead of derivative contracts expiry due on Thursday...Thereby putting pressure on Indian bourses. Decent corporate earnings by DTH service provider, Dish TV, capital goods major BHEL failed to cheer sentiment," said Gaurav Jain, Director at Hem Securities.

Out of the 30-share Sensex, 17 scrips ended lower.

Major losers were Vedanta (2.33 pc), ONGC (2.05 pc), Tata Motors (1.60 pc), NTPC (1.34 pc), Dr Reddy's (1.07 pc), RIL (1.07 pc), ITC (1.05 pc) and HDFC (1.03 pc).

However, BHEL rose by 2.88 percent, followed by Coal India 1.41 percent, Hero MotoCorp 1.24 percent, Maruti Suzuki 0.96 percent and Axis Bank 0.54 percent.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, oil&gas fell by 1.03 percent, realty 0.86 percent, FMCG 0.54 percent and healthcare 0.40 percent.

Total market breadth remained negative as 1,497 stocks closed lower, 1,157 finished higher and 127 ruled steady.

The total turnover rose to Rs 2,436.33 crore from Rs 1,974.89 crore yesterday.