Sensex closes 229 points down, Nifty ends below 11,850; Britannia Industries, TCS, RIL, Nestle major gainers

Benchmark indices on Wednesday, November 13, ended lower after remaining flat for most part of the day, with Nifty below 11,850 level. The BSE Sensex was down 229.02 points at 40116.06, while NSE Nifty was down 73 points at 11,840.50. Major gainers on the Nifty today include Britannia Industries, TCS, Reliance Industries, Nestle and Bajaj Finserv, while Yes Bank, GAIL, Adani Ports and SBI were among major losers. 

Among sectors, all other sectoral indices ended in the red led by the bank, metal, pharma, infra, FMCG and IT, barring energy.

During early hours, equity benchmark indices were flat as Asian stocks slipped with global investors doubting that the US-China trade deal will be signed anytime soon. At 10:15 am, the BSE Sensex was up by 19 points at 40,364, while the Nifty 50 gained by 7 points to 11,921. 

Except for Nifty FMCG, IT and metal, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red. FMCG major Britannia gained by 5.5 per cent at Rs 3,291.65 per share, Tata Consultancy Services was up by 2.4 per cent, Yes Bank by 1.5 per cent, Reliance Industries and Nestle India by 1.2 per cent each. However, GAIL fell by 2.3 per cent while Infosys and IndusInd Bank by 1.1 per cent each.

On global front, Asian stocks slipped on growing worries that US-China trade talks are stalling and concern about intensifying unrest in Hong Kong. MSCI`s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan fell by 1.01 per cent to the lowest in more than a week. Hong Kong shares were down by 1.8 per cent as protesters planned to paralyse parts of the Asian financial hub for a third day. 

Meanwhile, European shares fell on Wednesday from four-year highs after US President Donald Trump threatened to "substantially" increase tariffs if China failed to agree a trade deal and also took a swipe at European Union trade policies.

Concern is also growing that the intensifying unrest in Hong Kong could prompt a Chinese crackdown, pushing Hong Kong shares 2% lower and weighing on markets across Asia. 

MSCI`s index of world shares slipped 0.2%, following a 1% fall in Asian shares outside Japan. Japan`s Nikkei slipped almost 1%, moving further off last week`s 13-month highs.

(Agency Inputs)