Sensex drops 135 points; Nifty slips below 11,300

Extending losses for the fifth consecutive session, equity benchmark BSE Sensex lost 135 points while the NSE Nifty fell below the 11,300 mark on July 24 after the IMF cut India’s growth outlook.

After swinging 394 points, the 30-share Sensex ended 135.09 points or 0.36% lower at 37,847.65. It hit an intra-day low of 37,708.41 and a high of 38,102.84.

The broader NSE Nifty slipped 59.75 points or 0.53% to close at 11,271.30. During the day, the index hit a low of 11,229.80 and a high of 11,359.75.

Top losers in the Sensex pack included IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, Axis Bank, M&M, Vedanta and Maruti, falling up to 3.50%.

On the other hand, Asian Paints was the biggest gainer, rallying 3.42%, after the company reported an 18% increase in consolidated net profit for the June quarter.

HUL, HDFC twins, HCL Tech and ITC too ended in the green, spurting up to 2.06%.

Besides unabated foreign fund outflows and tepid corporate earnings, IMF’s downward revision of India’s economic outlook further hit domestic investor sentiment, traders said.

The IMF on July 23 projected a slower growth rate for India in 2019 and 2020, a downward revision of 0.3% for both the years, saying its GDP will now grow at 7% and 7.2% respectively, reflecting a weaker-than expected outlook for domestic demand.

On a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth ₹2,607.97 crore on July 23, while domestic institutional investors purchased shares to the tune of ₹2,625.10 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed.

Elsewhere in Asia, Shanghai Composite Index, Hang Seng and Nikkei ended higher, while Kospi settled in the red. Bourses in Europe were also trading on a mixed note in their early sessions.

On the currency front, the Indian rupee depreciated marginally to 68.99 against