Cautious approach drags stock market down on 4th consecutive day; Sensex falls 667 points

Mumbai/New Delhi, May 29 (FN Agency) Cautious approach ahead of election results dragged the stock market down on the fourth consecutive day as the 30-share BSE sensex closed 667.55 points down to settle at 74,502.90 amidst heavy selling in Bankex, Financial services, Utilities and IT stocks. Besides uncertainty about lok sabha election results and timing of potential US rate cut too dampened the sentiments of investors. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) fell 183.45 points at 22,704.70. The NSE registered days high and low at 22,825.50 and 22,685.45 points respectively.

Even as the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold heavily in the cash segment during this month, they bought equities to the tune of Rs 66 crore and the Domestic Institutional Investors bought worth Rs 3232 crore in the last trading session, according to data available. Today the market remained negative throughout the session as the Sensex dropped 344 points to open at 74826.94 points. It crashed 716 points at 74454.55 during intra-day before closing at 74,502.90, losing 667.55 points from its previous close.

The stocks that dropped were Bankex by 1.37 per cent followed by Financial Services by 1.32 per cent, Oil and Gas by 0.95 per cent and IT by 0.92 per cent.In 30 scrips Sensex, only 6 advanced while 24 declined. The Mid Cap slipped 0.38 per cent while small Cap rose 0.23 per cent. The losers included Tech Mahindra by 2.26 per cent to Rs 1287, Bajaj Finserv by 2 per cent to Rs 1568, ICICI bank by 1.99 per cent to Rs 1104.50, HDFC bank by 1.62 per cent to Rs 1505.70 and Ultracemco by 1.46 per cent to Rs 10020.10. The gainers were Powergrid by 1.33 per cent to Rs 316.95, Nestle India Ltd by 0.71 per cent to Rs 2468.95, Sun Pharma by 0.58 per cent to Rs 1473.40. The Asian Market was also in red, as Hang Seng fell by 1.86 per cent, Kospi by 1.70 per cent, Taiwan Weighted by 0.90 per cent and Strait times by 0.21 per cent.