Sensex on Saturday snapped its six-day-long gaining streak in view of investors turning cautious owing to a host of factors like depreciating rupee, rising crude prices and weak global cues.
The market sentiments were also impacted by uncertainty over the longevity of recently enforced US-China trade truce as well as the likely outcome of RBI policy meet on Wednesday.
According to Rusmik Oza, Head-Fundamental Research, Kotak Securities, the markets are on a back foot due to major events like the OPEC meeting this week, RBI monetary policy review meeting commencing on Wednesday and the ongoing poll processes in five states.
“Investors are waiting on the sidelines of these potential market drivers and will take positions after these major events,” he added.
Finance and banking stocks traded over 0.50 per cent lower, while selling pressure was witnessed in telecom, auto and FMCG stocks.
In contrast, buying was seen in IT, which gained over 1 per cent. Oil and gas also ended higher.
The Sensex settled lower 0.29 per cent, or 106.69 points, at 36,134.31, from its previous close of 36,241. It touched an intra-day high of 36,295.84 and a low of 36,036.39.
The Nifty50 lost 14.25 points or 0.13 per cent to close the session at 10,869.50.
However, in broader markets, smallcaps closed in the green, as it gained 0.14 per cent, while midcap traded lower by 0.07 per cent.
Ahead of the OPEC meeting, the crude oil prices surged on Tuesday on expectations of supply cuts by the oil cartel which could drive the prices up. The benchmark Brent Crude was trading higher at $63.19 a barrel when the markets closed.
The rupee, after losing 88 paise on Monday, traded at Rs 70.60 to a US dollar. It had closed at Rs 70.45.
Top gainers on Sensex were dominated by IT stocks as Wipro and Infosys gained over 2 per cent, while TCS advanced by 1.37 per cent. Other major gainers were ONGC and Vedanta.
The laggards were led by SunPharma which lost 2.75 per cent, reflecting the concerns among the investors over the probe by the market regulator SEBI on charges of insider trading. It had lost over 7 per cent on Monday.
Other top losers included Mahindra and Mahindra, HDFC and State Bank of India.
(With IANS inputs)
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