Markets looked set for another heavy day today. The BSE Sensex started trading below the 82k milestone, at 81,937, bleeding more than 150 points, while the NSE Nifty50 rang the opening bell above 25,100, slipping over 50 points, around 9:15 AM.
At 07:35 AM, the GIFT Nifty trends signalled a weak start, with futures trading 67.5 points lower at 25,176.50, indicating further pressure on benchmarks in Wednesday’s session. In the pre-open session, the Sensex fell close to 100 points and tested 82k, and the Nifty took a hit of 92 points and breached 25,100, near 9:02 AM.
Notably, in the previous trading session on Tuesday, benchmarks experienced declines as selling in IT majors and private banking heavyweights weighed on sentiment amid continued foreign fund outflows and concerns over the steep hike in US H-1B visa fees.
The Sensex oscillated between gains and losses before closing 57.87 points lower, or 0.07 per cent, at 82,102.10. It swung nearly 594 points during the day, hitting an intra-day high of 82,370.38 and a low of 81,776.53. The Nifty also ended in the red, down 32.85 points or 0.13 per cent at 25,169.50.
Meanwhile, the rupee weakened by 52 paise to hit an all-time low of 88.82 against the US dollar in intra-day trade on Tuesday, hurt by sustained FII selling pressure.