Sensex pares most losses on fag-end buying, ends 111 pts lower; ONGC, RIL tank up to 13%

On Friday, after plunging nearly 900 points during the day on the back of a sharp fall in heavyweight

, the indices managed to trim losses, with Sensex falling 111 points or 0.21 per cent to 52,907.93. The Nifty fell 28.20 points but closed above the 15,700 mark.
was the biggest loser in the Nifty50 pack, plunging 13 per cent, followed by , which cracked 7.25 per cent. ONGC lost a market cap of Rs 25,800 crore while Reliance Industries saw Rs 1.26 lakh crore market cap erosion today.



PowerGrid, , , , Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and were the other major laggards.

On the other hand,

, , , , , and were among the major gainers.

Shares of oil refining and marketing companies tumbled sharply in Friday’s session after the Ministry of Finance increased export duties on select petroleum products and announced additional windfall tax on gains made by domestic refineries.

Oil India slid 15 per cent, while Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical slumped 10 per cent. The Nifty Energy index cracked 3.9 per cent.

“Unfavorable cues from the domestic market led to a weak start due to weakness in the rupee and selling in oil refineries as the government imposed an additional export duty on petrol and diesel,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Meanwhile, the Nifty FMCG index jumped 2.8 per cent on its best day since mid-March, helped in part by a slump in palm oil prices.

“Adding to the weakness, India’s factory output growth slowed down during June, as high inflation continued to dampen demand. However, the FMCG sector witnessed strong buying supported by declining commodity prices on the belief that the prices have peaked out,” Nair added.

Non-bank lenders Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv climbed 4 per cent and 3.6 per cent, respectively, leading the recovery in the Nifty. The rupee hit a record closing low of 79.05 against the dollar, versus Thursday’s close of 78.97. Titan surged seven per cent from lows despite increase in import duty on gold.

Broader markets, however, managed to make it to the green, closing with gains of around half a per cent each.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai ended lower.

European bourses were trading in the green in mid-session deals. US stock futures slip Friday morning after the S&P 500 closed out its worst first-half performance in decades.

The rupee rebounded from its all-time low to close 12 paise higher at 78.94 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday. At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 78.99 against the greenback and fell to an intra-day low of 79.12.

It finally settled at 78.94, a rise of 12 paise over its previous close.