Sensex washes out early gains, dips 46 points; SBI climbs

Mumbai: After a day's breather, the BSE Sensex resumed its downward spiral by taking a hit of over 46 points to 28,077 after investors locked-in gains amid weaker opening in European markets and a mixed closing in Asia.

For the week, both indices Sensex and Nifty slipped 75.40 points or 0.26 percent, and 5.25 points or 0.06 percent, respectively.

The initial trend was upbeat, driven by sustained foreign fund inflows but profit-booking at improved level by participants mainly dampened sentiments, brokers said.

Globally, markets turned cautious after a Federal Reserve policy maker said the US economy is strong enough to warrant an increase in interest rates soon.

The rupee weakening by 25 paise to 67.06 (intra-day) against the dollar during the day also had its bearing on trading sentiment.

Shares of State Bank of India surged 4.15 percent to Rs 258.50 after its board cleared the merger of five associate banks and Bhartiya Mahila Bank with the state-run lender.

State Bank of Tranvancore surged 6.06 percent to Rs 536.50, State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur climbed 1.23 percent to Rs 681.60, while State Bank of Mysore tumbled 11.21 percent to Rs 552.

In broader markets, the mid-cap index rose 0.52 percent while small-cap ended 0.45 percent higher.

Shares of Shipping Corporation of India tumbled 4.92 percent to Rs 70.60 after the PSU reported a 72.56 percent decline in net profit to Rs 55.91 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2016.

The 30-share Sensex after opening higher at 28,167.66 continued to advance and hit a high of 28,212.30. However, on profit-booking in bluechips, it slipped into the negative terrain to touch a low of 28,026.12 before settling 46.44 points, or 0.17 percent, down at 28,077 points. The gauge had gained 118.07 points in yesterday's session.

The NSE Nifty after choppy movements touched a high of 8,696.60 and a low of 8,647.10, finally terminated 6.35 points, or 0.07 percent, down at 8,666.90.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 162.17 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

In the domestic market, 22 scrips out of the 30-share Sensex pack ended lower while 8 finished higher.

Among major losers were Coal India 1.36 percent, followed by TCS (1.24 pct), Lupin (1.06 pct), Wipro (0.80 pct), Sun Pharma (0.77 pct), Axis Bank (0.67 pct), Power Grid (0.58 pct), Dr Reddy's (0.54 pct), GAIL (0.52 pct), Adani Ports (0.51 pct), HDFC Bank (0.50 pct) and ITC (0.46 pct).

However, Tata Steel rose by 1.32 percent, Cipla (0.72 pct), HUL (0.61 pct), L&T (0.52 pct), ONGC (0.48 pct) and ICICI Bank (0.45 pct).

Sectorwise, BSE realty index suffered the most by falling 0.70 percent, followed by teck 0.51 percent, auto (0.50 pc), IT (0.50 pc) and healthcare (0.01 pc).

Globally, Asian markets ended mixed, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng falling 0.37 percent, while Japan Nikkei 225 index gaining 0.36 percent.

Other indices from the region like in China Shanghai Composite rose 0.13 percent and Singapore by 0.25 percent.

Europe was also lower in their early trade with indices in France, Germany and the UK moved lower by up to 0.87 percent.