Sensex falls over 200 pts on weak macro cues

Mumbai: The benchmark BSE Sensex fell over 207 points and the NSE Nifty slipped below the 11,400-mark in early trade today on selling in metal, realty and banking stocks amid weak macroeconomic cues and sustained foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share index dropped 207.03 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 37,644.97. The gauge had gained 207.10 points in the previous session on Tuesday.

Financial markets were shut yesterday on account of Independence Day. The NSE Nifty fell below the 11,400-mark, shedding 58.15 points, or 0.50 per cent, to 11,376.95. The trade data was released by the commerce ministry on Tuesday after market hours. The sharp surge in imports led to worsening of trade deficit to USD 18.02 billion in the reporting month as against a deficit of USD 11.45 billion during July 2017.

Also Read | Sensex eases as April series sees shaky start

Also Read: July inflation slows to 9-month low of 4.17% 

Over 57 per cent increase in oil import bill (USD 12.35 billion) and 41 per cent jump in gold imports to USD 2.96 billion during July is believed to be main reason behind high trade deficit.

However, PowerGrid, Infosys, Coal India, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paint and Sun Pharma bucked weak market trend and were trading in the green.

Also Read | Sensex, Nifty reach new closing peaks

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 378.84 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 391.47 crore on Tuesday, provisional data showed. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's Nikkei was down 0.32 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.45 per cent in early trade. Shanghai Composite Index too was down 0.87 per cent.

Also Read: Rupee rebounds 41 paise against US dollar

The US Dow Jones ended 0.54 per cent lower in yesterday's trade. (PTI)

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