Sensex drops 308 pts ahead of RBI policy decision; RIL, HDFC Bank major drags
Mumbai, Aug 5 (PTI): Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed lower on Tuesday following selling in oil & gas and banking shares ahead of the Reserve Bank's monetary policy announcement on August 6.
The 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 308.47 points or 0.38 per cent to close at 80,710.25. During the day, it declined 464.32 points or 0.57 per cent to hit an intraday low of 80,554.40.
The broader NSE Nifty fell 73.20 points or 0.30 per cent to close at 24,649.55. In the intraday session, it slipped by 132.45 points or 0.53 per cent to 24,590.30.
Among Sensex shares, Adani Ports, Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Eternal, BEL, HDFC Bank, Power Grid, ITC and Sun Pharmaceutical were the major laggards.
However, Titan, Maruti, Trent, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, L&T, HCL Technologies and NTPC were among the gainers.
The BSE smallcap gauge went lower by 0.27 per cent and the midcap index by 0.14 per cent.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Shanghai's SSE Composite index, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Japan's Nikkei 225 index closed in the positive territory.
The European markets were trading in green. The US markets ended higher on Monday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.02 per cent to USD 68.06 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 2,566.51 crore while Domestic Institutional Investors purchased equities worth Rs 4,386.29 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.
On Monday, the 30-share Sensex gained 418.81 points to settle at 81,018.72, and the NSE Nifty jumped by 157.40 points to close at 24,722.75.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
