Sensex, Nifty fall more than 1%; rupee down
SLIDE SHOW Myanmar border tensions weaken sentiment MUMBAI:
Fortunes soured for stocks for the seventh day in a row as the Sensex on Wednesday plunged a sharp 440 points to close at an over three-month low, triggered by a weakening rupee on concerns that foreign capital will move out sooner than later after Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s comments.
Yellen, in a speech, said the US Federal Reserve should stick to gradual rate hikes despite the uncertainty about the inflation trajectory. This was enough for foreign investors to hit the exit button, looking for instruments that yield better returns.
The rupee took a hammering, sinking to over a six-month low of 65.75 against the dollar during the day. The lingering Korean stand-off dealt a further blow after US President Donald Trump dialled up his threats saying America is “totally prepared” for a “military option” on North Korea, warning that would be “devastating”.
Updates of military action on the eastern border hastened the market’s fall, which has been on a slippery slope ahead of the derivatives expiry tomorrow.
Clearly, it was downhill drive for the BSE benchmark right in the beginning, which settled lower by 439.95 points or 1.39%, at 31,159.81 points. This is the weakest closing since June 30 when the gauge had settled at 30,921.61. It had lost 824 points in the previous six sessions.
Mood was downcast at the 50-share NSE Nifty too, which after regaining the key 9,900mark at one stage closed down 135.75 points or 1.38%, at 9,735.75—a level last seen on August 11 when it closed at 9,710.80. Investors’ wealth as measured by market capitalisation of BSE listed companies took a big knock of ₹1,79,524 crore, which read ₹1,30,55,056 crore.
Shares of ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company recovered from initial losses to end over 3% higher than the issue price of ₹661 in the debut trade on Wednesday. The stock listed at ₹650, down 1.66% from the issue price on BSE.
However, it later gathered momentum and gained 3.10% to settle at ₹681.55. During the day, it touched a high of ₹694, up 4.99%. At NSE, the stock closed at ₹681.20, a gain of 3% against the issue price. The stock had debuted at ₹651.10, a discount of 1.49% from the issue price. In terms of equity volume, 59.12 lakh shares of the company were traded on BSE and over 3 crore shares changed hands at NSE during the day. The firm’s market valuation stood at ₹ 30,938.85 crore.
The initial share sale offer of ICICI Lombard was oversubscribed by three times during September 15-19. The non-life insurer had fixed the price band at ₹651- 661 per share for the ₹5,700crore IPO.
For the ICICI Bank group, this was the second public offer. Its life insurance arm ICICI Prudential had raised ₹6,000 crore through an IPO earlier. CLSA India Private, Edelweiss Financial Services and JM Financial Institutional Securities were the book running lead managers for the share sale.
MUMBAI: