Mumbai, March 10 (IANS) A day after it fell more than 600 points, a benchmark index of Indian equities markets, the 30-scrip BSE Sensitive Index (Sensex), fell 215 points in the late afternoon trade session Tuesday.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also suffered heavy losses in the late afternoon trade session. It was down 60.35 points or 0.69 percent at 8,696.40 points.
The S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex, which opened at 28,924.06 points, was trading at 28,629.53 points (2.45 p.m.) in the late afternoon session, down 215.25 points or 0.75 percent from the previous day’s close at 28,844.78 points.
The Sensex had touched a high of 28,949.11 points and a low of 28,601.12 points in the trade so far.
Healthy buying was observed in consumer durables, technology, entertainment and media (TECK), information technology (IT) and realty sectors. However, bank, capital goods, oil and gas, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and realty stocks came under selling pressure.
The S&P BSE consumer durables index was up 70.93 points, followed by TECK index which was higher by 52.79 points, IT index rose 27.74 points and automobile index increased 14.81 points.
However, the S&P BSE bank index was down 225.73 points, the capital goods index was lower by 174.81 points, oil and gas index fell 124.87 points, FMCG index declined by 48.35 points and the realty index fell 38.04 points.
On Monday, the Sensex plunged 604 points or 2.05 percent, as the Indian markets have reacted negatively to the sharp increase in the US non-farm payroll data for January.
The Indian markets were anxious as rapid increases in non-farm payroll data might lead to an increase in inflation.
This can make the US Federal Reserve raise interest rates sooner than previously expected. With higher interest rates, foreign institutional investors will be led away from emerging markets such as India.