Sensex down for 2nd week as global growth worries return

The BSE Sensex slipped by a marginal 34 points today to log its fourth fall in five sessions as fresh global growth worries following lacklustre factory data and tepid domestic earnings pulled down local indices for a second straight week. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained cautious in view of pessimism over the US Jobs data coming today.

On a weekly basis, both the indices recorded their second weekly fall with Sensex plunging 378.12 points or 1.47 per cent and Nifty dropping 116.45 points or 1.48 per cent.

Asia and Europe were also lower ahead of the US data. “The market continued to be lacklustre as recent gloomy manufacturing data from global market dampened the interest of equity investors,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

The BSE index settled 33.71 points or 0.13 per cent lower at 25,228.50 after shuttling between 25,057.93 and 25,260.48.  The index had risen by 160.48 points to log a relief rally yesterday.

The 50-issue NSE ended at 7,733.45, down 2.05 points or 0.03 per cent after cracking below the 7,700-mark to hit a low of 7,678.35 earlier. Broader markets ended mixed as the BSE mid-cap index jumped 0.37 per cent while the small-cap shed 0.20 per cent.

In stock specific action, ITC Ltd slipped 0.11 per cent to Rs 317.20 after the company said its cigarette factories have been shut since May 4 and will remain so till the time it is able to comply with “interim requirement” of 85 per cent pictorial warnings.

Shares of MCX dropped 3.25 per cent to Rs 886.60 after it reported a 45 per cent fall in standalone net profit at Rs 27.10 crore for the fourth quarter.

Country’s largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp fell 0.75 per cent to Rs 2,872.30 despite the company’s 70.85 per cent rise in standalone net profit to Rs 814.16 crore. Meanwhile, FPIs sold shares worth a net Rs 388.51 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the exchanges.

Overseas, the Shanghai Composite index ended lower by 2.82 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.66 per cent, Singapore dropped 1.34 per cent, Taiwan shed 0.26 per cent and Japan tumbled by 0.25 per cent. European markets were also lower as key indices in France, Germany and the UK fell between 0.38 per cent and 0.71 per cent.