Opening Bell: Sensex falls 126 points as US Federal Reserve hikes rate

Equities slipped back into the red on Thursday after a three-day winning run as investors turned cautious following US Federal Reserve’s rate hike.

The BSE 30-share Sensex fell by 126.09, or 0.35 per cent to quote at 35,613.07 in early trade, with IT, PSU, oil and gas, teck, banking and realty indices trading in the negative zone.

The Sensex had gained 295.49 points in the last three sessions.

The NSE Nifty too slipped by 35.95 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 10,820.75.

Brokers said caution prevailed after the US Fed raised its key interest rate by 0.25 per cent yesterday, the second increase of the year, and signalled two more hikes in 2018 and four in 2019.

Laggards included Wipro, Axis Bank, TCS, NTPC, SBI, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Adani Ports, Coal India, Asian Paints, Kotak Bank, IndusInd Bank, Hero MotoCorp and L&T, falling by up to 1.08 per cent.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 70.77 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 486.78 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

In the Asian region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.75 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.47 per cent and Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.28 per cent in early deals today.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.47 per cent lower in Wednesday’s trade.