Sensex down 161 points, Nifty ends below 12000; Zee, Coal India, BPCL, GAIL major gainers

Mumbai: The Sensex on Tuesday (February 18) closed down 161.31 points down or 0.39% at 40894.38, and the broader Nifty also ended 53.30 points down or 0.44% at 11992.50. Major gainers on the Nifty included Zee Entertainment, Coal India, BPCL, GAIL, and Eicher Motors while Bharti Infratel, Yes Bank, Tata Motors, and Bharti Airtel were top losers.

Except for IT, all other sectoral indices ended in the red. About 884 shares advanced, 1570 shares declined, and 152 shares remain unchanged. 

During early hours on Tuesday, equity benchmark indices floundered in the negative terrain amid concerns over the impact of coronavirus on global trade and subdued quarterly earnings. At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex edged lower by 234 points or 0.57 per cent to 40,822 while the Nifty 50 tumbled by 81 points at 11,965.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty metal down by 1.6 per cent. Nifty auto, pharma, realty and PSU bank slipped by 1.1 per cent each.Among stocks, metal major Vedanta was down by 2.2 per cent at Rs 138.95 per share while Tata Steel dipped by 1.8 per cent and Hindalco by 1.5 per cent.

Tata Motors and Hero MotoCorp skidded by 1.9 per cent each while Yes Bank and IndusInd Bank fell by 5.5 per cent and 4.1 per cent respectively. Bharti Infratel, Britannia and ITC too traded with a negative bias, but GAIL, Bharti Airtel, Eicher Motors and UltraTech Cement gained by thin margins.

Meanwhile, Asian shares fell and Wall Street retreated from record highs after Apple Inc said it will not meet its revenue guidance for the March quarter as the coronavirus outbreak slowed production and weakened demand in China. The warning sobered investor optimism. 

MSCI`s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan fell by 0.65 per cent while Tokyo`s Nikkei slid by 1 per cent. Shanghai shares dipped by 0.2 per cent after having gained in nine of the past 10 sessions largely on hopes for policy support by Beijing. 

(With Agency Inputs)