Sensex drops below 35,000-mark ahead of RBI policy outcome
Mumbai, Oct 5 : The BSE Sensex fell over 300 points Friday, extending its losing run for the third day, ahead of the RBI's bi-monthly policy meet outcome amid weak global cues.
The 30-share index after cracking the 35,000-mark by falling over 335 points to touch a low of 34,833.81, pared some losses to quote 194.44 points, or 0.55 per cent lower at 34,974.72.
It lost 1,356.98 points in the previous two sessions on rupee woes and boiling crude oil prices.
Sectoral indices led by oil and gas, PSU, infrastructure, auto and banking stocks cracked up to 10.27 per cent.
Stocks of state-run oil companies were under selling pressure as the government Thursday announced a Rs 2.50 per litre cut in petrol and diesel prices after it reduced excise duty by Rs 1.50 a litre and asked oil companies to absorb another Re 1.
Shares of BPCL, HPCL and IOC were trading sharply lower by up to 20.50 per cent on nervous selling by investors.
The NSE Nifty also dropped by 90.40 points, or 0.85 per cent, to 10,508.85.
Brokers said investors offloaded their positions, tracking a selloff in global markets as US Treasury surged to multi-year highs on robust economic data and comments from the Federal Reserve, sparking fears of accelerating inflation.
Besides, caution ahead of RBI's monetary policy announcement which expected to hike interest rates by 25 basis points, too, dented sentiments, they added.
Shares of ONGC, Bajaj auto, HUL, ITC, M&M, RIL, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, Adani Ports, HDFC Bank, NTPC, Vedanta, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel and Axis Bank tanked up to 11.27 per cent.
On the other hand, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, Infosys, Yes Bank, PowerGrid, TCS and Kotak Bank bucked market trend, and were trading in the green, rising up to 2 per cent.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 2,760.63 crore Thursday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,823.59 crore, provisional data showed.
Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, Strait Times and Taiwan indices fell up to 1.73 per cent.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average too ended lower Thursday.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
