Markets fall for 4th straight day on relentless foreign fund outflows, Sensex sheds 425 pts

Mumbai: Falling for the fourth straight day, benchmark Sensex declined by nearly 425 points on Friday due to selling in auto, pharma and banking shares and relentless foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex dropped 424.90 points or 0.56 per cent to settle at 75,311.06. The NSE Nifty declined 117.25 points or 0.51 per cent to 22,795.90.

In four trading days, the BSE barometer tumbled 685.8 points or 0.90 per cent while the Nifty declined 163.6 points or 0.71 per cent.

From the Sensex pack, Mahindra & Mahindra tanked over 6 per cent. Adani Ports, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Power Grid, Zomato, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and UltraTech Cement were also among the laggards. Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro, HCL Tech, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank and NTPC were among the gainers.

The BSE midcap gauge declined 1.18 per cent and smallcap index dipped 0.43 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, auto dropped 2.60 per cent, consumer discretionary (1.49 per cent), oil & gas (1.42 per cent), realty (1.33 per cent), telecom (1.19 per cent) and consumer durables (0.87 per cent). Metal emerged as the only gainer and jumped 1.23 per cent.

As many as 2,246 stocks declined, while 1,701 advanced and 113 remained unchanged on the BSE.

The rupee pared initial gains and settled 4 paise lower at 86.68 against the US dollar on Friday, weighed down by sustained foreign fund outflows and a recovery in dollar index.