BSE Sensex ends 5-day rally ahead of IIP, inflation data

The BSE Sensex on Thursday snapped its five-day rally, slumping by over 215 points, as investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of industrial output and retail inflation data.

Industrial production (IIP), which contracted by 2.82 per cent in May and 2.2 per cent in June, is likely to contract in July as well, brokers said, adding that retail inflation may have marginally slowed to about 9.5-9.6 per cent in August. Retail inflation stood at 9.64 per cent in July.

On the currency front, the rupee - which spurted by 425 paise, or 6.23 per cent, in five straight days - fell to 63.96 and was last trading at 63.8 levels against the US dollar.

Dealers said selling was more confined to recent gainers like banking, metal and consumer durables sectors.

After gaining 1,758 points in past five sessions, the 30-share index of the Bombay Stock Exchange fell by 215.57 points, or 1.08 per cent to 19,781.88.

The 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 62.45 points, or 1.06 per cent to 5,850.70.

Also, SX40 index, the flagship index of MCX-SX, ended at 11,734.34, down 104.25 points or 0.88 per cent.

Traders said markets are expected to be volatile until the Federal Open Market Committee meets next week to discuss whether it should scale down its bond buying programme.

In the Sensex, 23 stocks declined, led by ICICI Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, BHEL, Coal India, HUL, Infosys, SBI, Maruti Suzuki and RIL.

Sectorally, the metal sector index suffered the most by losing 2.53 per cent to end at 8,414.31, followed by banking index (down 1.86 per cent), consumer durable index (1.84 per cent) and auto index(1.80 per cent).

Meanwhile, global agency Moody's has said weak rupee and higher borrowing costs will impact credit quality of several Indian companies.

With inputs from PTI