Sensex sheds 266 points; rupee steady

Indian stocks yesterday made an early attempt to come out of the Infosys jolt, but ultimately could not as the Sensex lost 266 points and the Nifty cracked below 9,800 at the close amid a lower opening in Europe. The IT sector as a whole faced the backlash of Vishal Sikka’s surprise resignation as Infosys CEO.The software giant suffered more losses, down 5.37%, despite its Rs13,000 crore share buyback announcement. The stock was the biggest loser among blue-chips on both the key indices for yet another session, which fell for the second day.Investors turned skittish about joint military drills between the US and South Korea, which may spark a toughening of stand by North Korea. The 30-share Sensex ended 265.83 points lower, or 0.84%, at 31,258.85. The gauge had lost 270.78 points in the previous session on Friday. The broader NSE Nifty moved between 9,884.35 and 9,740.10, before ending down 83.05 points, or 0.84%, at 9,754.35.“Market failed to retain its opening strength due to continued pressure on the IT major (Infosys) despite a premium buyback announcement. Furthermore, pullout of foreign funds and persistent miss in quarterly earnings led the market to consolidate,” said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services. European shares turned lower after investors grew wary of US President Donald Trump’s ability to carry forward his ambitious economic agenda after some high-level exits.Asian markets closed mixed. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) gave shares a wide berth net selling Rs2,182.12 crore.Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs584.591 crore on Friday, provisional data showed. Losses were also registered at the counters of Adani Ports, Dr Reddy’s, Sun Pharma and ONGC, falling by up to 2.74%.The ongoing turbulence at Infosys, India’s second-largest IT exporter, continued to push down the BSE IT index, which slumped 2.04%, followed by technology, PSU and healthcare. Broader markets took more hits compared to the main indices, down by up to 1.45%, as investors locked in profit.Meanwhile the rupee yesterday erased most of the gains and closed little changed against the US dollar after local equity markets fell for second consecutive sessions.The rupee closed at 64.14 a dollar, up 0.01% from its Friday’s close of 64.15. The rupee opened at 64.07 a dollar and touched a high and a low of 64.02 and 64.16 respectively.The 10-year bond yield was at 6.51% against 6.513% from its previous close. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.So far this year, the rupee gained 5.89%, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought $7.94bn and $18.91bn in equity and debt markets, respectively.Asian currencies were trading higher. South Korean won was up 0.21%, Japanese yen 0.18%, Thai Baht 0.11%, Malaysian ringgit 0.08%, Indonesian rupiah 0.06%, Philippines peso 0.05%.The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 93.478, up 0.04% from its previous close of 93.434.Traders are cautious ahead of the speeches from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen and ECB President Mario Draghi at the Jackson Hole Symposium on August 25 and August 26 respectively.