Sensex drops 188 pts as Q3 results disappoint; Nifty ends near 12,050

Mumbai: Domestic stock market fell for a second straight session on Tuesday, mirroring weakness in its Asian peers as potential impact on businesses from coronavirus outbreak hit market sentiment.

Investors also reminded on the sidelines as Q3 earnings continued to disappoint.

BSE’s 30-share Sensex closed 0.46 per cent or 188.26 points lower at 40,966.86, while NSE’s 50-share Nifty dropped 0.48 per cent or 58.75 points to close at 12,060.25.


Market at a glance
Market breadth tilted in favour of the bears, as losers beat gainers in the ratio of 1.6:1 on BSE. Weakness was across the board, with BSE 500 index declining 0.46 per cent. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices fell 0.52 per cent and 0.19 per cent, respectively.

Telecom was the biggest sectoral loser on BSE, as it eroded 3.79 per cent. Vodafone Idea slumped 7.57 per cent, while rival Bharti Airtel dropped 4.55 per cent.

As many as 18 out of 30 Sensex stocks closed lower. Energy-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries (106.27 points) contributed the most to the benchmark’s decline, as it dropped 2.34 per cent. Top private lender ICICI Bank (50.08 points), followed next as it fell 1.53 per cent.

Maruti Suzuki skid 2.07 per cent as the country’s largest carmaker posted a mere 5 per cent rise in December quarter profit, missing Street estimates.

Mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), was the top gainer among Sensex stocks. It rose 1.39 per cent after quarterly profit jumped nearly four times.

Analysts’ views:
“Auto sector has given a setback to the market due to low demand, fall in realisations and higher competition. India is taking a careful approach since Q3 has not given a positive sign of revival in corporate earnings as expected. Global market is negative on concerns that Coronavirus issue may slowdown the world economy,” -- Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services

Global markets
Asian stocks extended a global selloff as China took more drastic steps to combat coronavirus outbreak, while bonds found favour on expectations central banks would need to keep stimulus flowing to offset the likely economic drag, Reuters reported.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.8 per cent lower in Asian trade.

European stocks edged higher, after posting their worst day in about four months in the previous session on heightened concerns about the potential impact from the coronavirus outbreak, according to a Reuters report.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.1 per cent.