Global cues, caution ahead of F&O expiry pull equity indices lower
Mumbai, Sep 27 : The key equity indices slipped into the red for the second consecutive session on Thursday as investors turned cautious ahead of the expiry of September futures and options (F&O) contracts.
Weak global cues also weighed on the Indian market, analysts said. Globally, the markets were subdued after the US Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate by 0.25 per cent for the third time in 2018 bringing it to the 2-2.25 per cent range.
Although the Indian indices had opened on a positive note, they could not hold on to the gains for long.
Sector-wise, almost all the sectors, led by finance, banking and capital goods, came under selling pressure on Thursday. However, TECK (technology, entertainment and media) and IT stocks gained.
Index-wise, the Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange closed at 10,977.55 points, lower 76.25 points or 0.69 per cent from its previous close.
The BSE Sensex, which had opened at 36,691.93 points, closed at 36,324.17 points, down 218.10 points or 0.60 per cent from its previous close of 36,542.27 points.
It touched an intra-day high of 36,711.62 points and a low of 36,238.23 points.
Major Asian markets closed on a mixed note, while European indices like DAX and CAC 40 traded in the red, Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities said.
On the currency front, the Indian rupee closed at 72.59 per US dollar, two paise stronger from its previous close of 72.61 per greenback. Rupee appreciated marginally as the government on Wesnesday raised import duties on various items in order to narrow down the current account deficit and arrest the fall of Indian currency.
Investment-wise, provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors bought stocks worth Rs 552.44 crore and domestic institutional investors sold stocks worth Rs 186.69 crore.
The top Sensex gainers were: Tata Consultancy Services, up 2.16 per cent at Rs 2,187.80; Coal India, up 1.39 per cent at Rs 276.30; Power Grid, up 0.93 per cent at Rs 194.80; Infosys, up 0.88 per cent at Rs 724.15; and HDFC Bank, up 0.54 per cent at Rs 1,977.95 per share.
On the other hand, major Sensex losers were: Yes Bank, down 9.14 per cent at Rs 203.20; Tata Motors (DVR), down 3.69 per cent at Rs 118.75; Maruti Suzuki, down 3.68 per cent at Rs 7,556.05; Tata Motors, down 3.32 per cent at Rs 225.55; and Axis Bank, down 2.79 per cent at Rs 598.70 per share.
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Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman expresses displeasure over absent ministers
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti on Tuesday briefly adjourned the House, expressing displeasure over the absence of Ministers and ruling party members post lunch break.
The development comes a day after Assembly Speaker U T Khader adjourned the House and walked out in protest, over the lack of written replies from government departments to questions raised by MLAs.
The "unprecedented" move by the Speaker had caused huge embarrassment to the Congress government, forcing the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to issue directives to Ministers and bureaucrats, including suspending errant officials.
When the council resumed after lunch, Leader of Opposition Chalavadi Narayanaswamy pointed toward the empty treasury benches and suggested that ruling party members seemed to have "boycotted" the proceedings.
Only Minister of School Education and Literacy Madhu Bangarappa and Chief Whip Saleem Ahmed were in attendance.
The Chairman asked, "Ministers are not here; what should I do?"
Raising objection to empty treasury benches, Opposition Chief Whip N Ravikumar said, "If we have to speak on any issues, who should we tell? Who is there among Ministers? Where is the government?"
Following this, Horatti adjourned the House for 10 minutes.
When the House resumed, a couple of Ministers -- Ramalinga Reddy, Santosh Lad arrived, but the treasury benches by and large remained sparse as most of the ruling Congress MLCs were absent.
The Chairman asked the Chief Whip Saleem Ahmed, "If there are no members and Ministers on the treasury bench side, what is it? How should the House be run? If you don't want, I will adjourn the House for tomorrow. What other work is there during the session? If there are no members and the seats are empty, how can the House run?"
When Horatti asked the Chief Whip about the MLCs, Ahmed replied, "They will be coming."
Pointing out that MLCs were not present, despite the House resuming late post lunch, the Chairman said, "What should we do? Shall I adjourn the House for tomorrow? What do you mean that they will be coming? I don't like it."
Ravikumar attacked the ruling Congress, asking, "Before whom should we raise the issues?"
When the Chairman expressed his willingness to adjourn the House till Wednesday morning, Ravikumar said the opposition BJP was ready to participate in the proceedings, provided the treasury benches show equal cooperation.
Defending the ruling party members, Congress MLC Ramesh Babu said there was some delay in the return of his party colleagues, who had gone for lunch.
As a couple of Ministers and ruling party MLCs started trickling in, the Chairman called BJP MLC A H Vishwanth to speak on the Budget.
