Sensex sinks 274 points on GST fears

MUMBAI: Dimming hopes for the passage of the GST bill during the current session of Parliament due to fresh political troubles in Delhi pulled the sensex down by 274 points on Wednesday, its sixth consecutive session of losses, as it closed just a tad above the psychologically important 25k mark.
Sliding continuously since December 2, the index has lost 1,133 points, or 4.3% to close at 25,036 on Wednesday and investors are now poorer by a little over Rs 4 lakh crore with BSE's market capitalization now at Rs 95.07 lakh crore.
The slide in crude oil prices, which saw a minor bounce back during the day due to better than expected economic data from Japan, also weighed on market sentiment, dealers said.
According to Jayant Manglik, president, retail distribution, Religare Securities, thanks to prevailing ambiguity on GST bill's fate, market edged lower for the sixth consecutive session. "So far, market participants, mainly the retail investors, were somehow managing with support from midcap and smallcap stocks, but now those stocks also, alongside with the index majors, have started to crack. Although leading indices are closer to their three-month lows, selling may continue in midcap and smallcap counters," Manglik said.
Brokers said that foreign investors have been big sellers in the market in the last couple of weeks, mainly because some fund managers have turned cautious ahead of next week's meeting of the US Federal Reserve which will decide if the time was right for it to raise interest rate in the world's largest economy, the first such move in nearly a decade. Sebi data showed that so far this month foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have net sold stocks worth nearly $700 million, on top of a $1.07 billion net pull out last month. The US Fed's Open Market Committee is scheduled to announce its decision on rates late evening on December 16. Any rate hike decision is expected to increase volatility in markets around the globe, analysts and brokers have been warning since the Janet Yellen-led central bank first spoke about it about two years ago.
On Wednesday, in the domestic market, of the 30 sensex stocks, 25 ended in the red with Vedanta, Tata Steel and Coal India leading the slide, each closing between 3% and 6% lower. Among those which partially cushioned the fall in the sensex were BHEL and TCS, each closing with more than 1.5% gains.
Logistics stocks fall sharply on GST bill's hurdles
Mumbai: Stock prices of transport and logistics companies fell sharply on Wednesday as the crucial GST bill faced fresh hurdles in the Parliament after Congress, the main opposition, stalled the day's proceedings. Among the leading logistics firms, Transport Corp crashed 9% to Rs 291, while Gati tanked 8% to Rs 152 and Allcargo Logistics was down 5.1% to Rs 351. Bluedart, however, closed nearly a percentage points higher at Rs 7,145.