Mumbai, Aug 12: Falling for the second day, benchmark BSE Sensex closed lower by nearly 188 points on Wednesday following elevated crude oil prices and selling in TCS and other Tata Group shares after N Chandrasekaran said he will not seek reappointment as Tata Sons Chairman when his current term ends on February 20, 2027.
The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 187.90 points, or 0.24 per cent, to settle at 77,966.35 with its 21 constituents ending lower, eight with gains and one unchanged. During the day, it tumbled 656.32 points, or 0.83 per cent, to 77,497.93 but recovered some of the losses in the closing session.
Index major TCS dropped by 3.71 per cent after N Chandrasekaran announced that he will step down as chairman of group holding company Tata Sons when his current term ends in February 2027. Chandrasekaran, 63, has spent 40 years with the Tata Group, which includes his stint as TCS CEO from 2009 to 2017.
The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped by 35.75 points, or 0.15 per cent, to end at 24,435.95.
Among Sensex shares, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro, Eternal and Infosys were the major losers.
State Bank of India, Bharti Airtel, UltraTech Cement and Power Grid were among the winners.
“Markets remained on edge ahead of key inflation readings in India and the US, with policymakers on both sides underscoring a data-driven approach amid heightened global uncertainty.
“Against this backdrop, elevated crude oil prices, which retested the USD 90/barrel level, weighed on investor confidence and triggered broad-based risk-off selling despite supportive cues from Asian peers,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments, said. Brent crude was trading at USD 88.76 per barrel on Wednesday.
Tata Group stocks came under pressure following the Chairman’s exit, contributing to the underperformance of large-cap stocks relative to the broader market, Nair added.
“Indian equity markets witnessed broad-based selling on Wednesday as a sharp rebound in crude oil prices overshadowed supportive cues from Asia and reinforced concerns over the inflationary impact of higher energy costs.
“With Brent crude edging closer to the USD 90-per-barrel mark, investors turned increasingly cautious amid persistent uncertainty surrounding US-Iran negotiations and renewed disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, developments that continue to keep the global energy market on edge,” Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, Founder & CEO of HST Wealth, Research Analyst firm, said. The BSE MidCap Select index dipped 0.17 per cent, while SmallCap Select index ended almost unchanged.
Among sectoral indices, Hospitals tanked 2.87 per cent, followed by Focused IT (1.55 per cent), IT (1.41 per cent), FMCG (0.82 per cent), Realty (0.71 per cent), Utilities (0.55 per cent) and Services (0.51 per cent). Telecommunication jumped 1.89 per cent, PSU Bank (1.86 per cent), MidSmall Private Banks Quality Tilt (0.86 per cent), MidSmall Private Banks (0.77 per cent), Capital Goods (0.73 per cent) and Bankex (0.61 per cent).
In Asian markets, South Korea’s KOSPI jumped 3.68 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Shanghai’s SSE Composite index also ended higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index settled lower.
US markets ended lower on Tuesday.
European markets were trading largely in positive territory.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 258.55 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data. (PTI)
