The Indian equity markets declined for the third consecutive session on Wednesday, led by disappointing quarterly results and negative global cues.Other factors such as lower crude oil prices and profit booking subdued the key indices, which also led to decline in broader markets. Stocks of metal, automobile, and state-owned banks came under intense selling pressure.This led to the wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to end the day's trade in the red -- down 40.45 points or 0.52 percent, at 7,706.55 points.Similarly, the barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE declined by 127.97 points or 0.51 percent.The barometer index which opened at 25,210.87 points, closed at 25,101.73 points from the previous close at 25,229.70 points. It touched a high of 25,245.70 points and a low of 25,061.04 points during the intra-day trade.The BSE market breadth was tilted in favour of the bears -- with 1,796 declines and 777 advances.Both the key Indian indices ended their previous trade session on Tuesday in the negative territory. The barometer index had declined by 207.27 points or 0.81 percent, whereas the NSE Nifty had closed lower by 58.90 points or 0.75 percent.During the last three sessions, Sensex has lost over 500 points, while the Nifty has declined by 143.25 points.Initially on Wednesday, the key indices had opened on a flat-to-negative note, in-sync with their Asian peers. The equity markets also took cues from the negative close of the US and European indices on Tuesday.Globally, Asian markets remained subdued after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned about the possibility of a slowdown in China and Japan.Other international markets receded after macro-economic data on manufacturing activity showed a decline in major economies.Besides, profit booking and less-than-expected Q4 (fourth quarter) results dampened sentiments.In addition, investors were disappointed after a key macro-economic data showed slight decline in services output for April.
"Negative global cues, decline in manufacturing activity across the globe, caution ahead of key quarterly results and profit booking dented investors' sentiments," Anand James, chief market strategist, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, told IANS.Vaibhav Agarwal, vice president and research head at Angel Broking said that markets ended on a weak note led by negative global indices. "Earnings will act as the catalyst for markets along with the import data on the domestic front, while global cues could remain volatile considering the US payroll data," Agarwal said. According to Nitasha Shankar, senior vice president for research with YES Securities, sharp sell off was witnessed in the broader markets in the last hour of trade."Midcap and Smallcap indices ended lower by 1.5 percent a piece, affirming the pause in the uptrend," Shankar noted."Metal, media, auto, PSU bank and reality sectorial indices ended sharply lower led by massive profit booking and short build-up."Both the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) turned into net sellers during the day's trade.Data with stock exchanges showed that FIIs sold stocks worth Rs.66.45 crore and the DIIs divested scrip worth Rs.78.80 crore.Sector-wise, all the sub-indices of the BSE except IT (information technology) came under intense selling pressure. The S&P BSE automobile index plummetted by 378.06 points, followed by the metal index, which plunged by 276.74 points; and the banking index declined by 159.92 points.In contrast, the S&P BSE IT index gained by 25.60 points.Major Sensex gainers during Wednesday's trade were HDFC, up 2.86 percent at Rs.1,131; NTPC, up 1.35 percent at Rs.138.50; HDFC Bank, up 0.89 percent at Rs.1,127.40; Infosys, up 0.75 percent at Rs.1,189.55; and Sun Pharmaceuticals, up 0.55 percent at Rs.802.75.Major Sensex losers were Adani Ports, down 11.98 percent at Rs.207.65; Tata Motors, down 6.76 percent at Rs.381.80; Tata Steel, down 5.60 percent at Rs.328.95; BHEL, down 3.78 percent at Rs.119.80; and ICICI Bank, down 2.98 percent at Rs.214.75.