Stock markets slide ahead of RBI policy decision, selling rush in RIL, HDFC Bank

Mumbai: Equity market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended lower on Tuesday amid selling in oil & gas and banking shares ahead of the Reserve Bank's monetary policy announcement.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 308.47 points or 0.38 per cent to close at 80,710.25. During the day, it declined 464.32 points or 0.57 per cent to hit an intraday low of 80,554.40.

The broader NSE Nifty fell 73.20 points or 0.30 per cent to close at 24,649.55. During the session, it slipped by 132.45 points or 0.53 per cent to 24,590.30.

Among Sensex shares, Adani Ports, Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Eternal, BEL, HDFC Bank, Power Grid, ITC and Sun Pharmaceutical were the major laggards.

However, Titan, Maruti, Trent, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, L&T, HCL Technologies and NTPC were among the gainers.

The BSE smallcap gauge went lower by 0.27 per cent and the midcap index by 0.14 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, Oil & Gas fell by 0.96 per cent, Energy by (0.74 per cent), FMCG by (0.61 per cent), Services and Focussed IT by (0.59 per cent each), IT and Realty by (0.52 per cent each) and Healthcare by (0.48 per cent).

Auto, Power, Capital Goods, Commodities, Industrials, Consumer Durables, Metal and Telecommunication were the only gainers.

"Despite positive global cues, domestic markets remained rangebound in negative territory. Oil & gas stocks led the decline amid concerns about future import restrictions on Russian oil. Weakness persisted on Pharma and IT stocks which are among the largest exporters to the US. Sentiment was also weighed by INR depreciation.

"In contrast, auto stocks continue to gain traction from July volumes," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments, said.

Investors are now awaiting the upcoming RBI policy decision, where market has marginal expectations of a rate cut, in the near-term. Currently, the preferences of investors are for domestic consumption-driven stocks and sectors holding limited volatility to external factors, Nair added.

The RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra-headed rate-setting panel started the three-day deliberations to decide the next bi-monthly monetary policy on Monday. The six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) will announce the outcome on Wednesday.

According to Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research at Religare Broking, "Lingering uncertainty over the tariff situation, following recent statements from the US President, along with a lack of major positive surprises from the earnings season, has been weighing on market sentiment." In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Shanghai's SSE Composite index, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Japan's Nikkei 225 index closed in the positive territory.

The European markets were trading in green. The US markets ended higher on Monday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.02 per cent to USD 68.06 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 2,566.51 crore while domestic institutional investors purchased equities worth Rs 4,386.29 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

On Monday, the 30-share Sensex gained 418.81 points to settle at 81,018.72, and the NSE Nifty jumped by 157.40 points to close at 24,722.75.