Sensex closes 514 points lower, Nifty drops below 8,200-mark
The rupee weakened at Rs 67.7 against the dollar.
Indian stock markets took a hit on Tuesday amid the demonetisation process and following cues from the ongoing Tata Sons-Cyrus Mistry dispute, Mint reported. The BSE Sensex closed 514 points lower at 26,304.63 after getting off to a bearish start during the morning trade with 26,395.41 points. The National Stock exchange Nifty ended the day’s trade at 8,108.4 points. The rupee closed at Rs 67.7 against the dollar, after dropping by 0.58% in the morning to 67.64, the lowest since June 30.
Mid cap and small cap indices performed worse than the benchmark indices, falling by 2.45% and 3.11%, as markets reopened after a long weekend. Asian Paints and Tata Motors were the biggest losers in morning trade. The share prices of Tata Motors dropped by Rs 37.70 (7.43%) to Rs 469.60, following news that the independent directors of the company’s board had expressed support for their ousted chairman, Cyrus Mistry.
The auto, realty and jewellery sectors suffered the worst hit, with Manappuram Finance and PC Jewellers as some of the biggest losers of the day. Corporation Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bharat Forge and Suzlon Energy were the biggest winners in Sensex trading. According to Head of Research at IDBI Capital AK Prabhakar, Nifty will trade between 8,100 and 8,700 for the next month. “The impact of demonetisation will be very negative for many mid cap and small cap stocks. Consumer discretionary stocks will correct more than expected,” he told Business Standard.