The Sensex and Nifty closed lower today dragged by energy stocks such as Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd (ONGC) on rising concern that the government may ask state-owned oil firms to share the burden of higher petrol and diesel prices.
The broader NSE Nifty closed 1.01 percent or 106 points lower at 10,430.35, while the benchmark BSE Sensex fell 0.88 percent or 306 points to 34,344.91. Both the indexes fell over 1 percent in the last hour of trading.
SBI (3.56%) was the top Sensex gainer after the bank said worse of the bad loan situation was over in Q4 during its earnings announcement yesterday.
NTPC (0.82%) and L&T (0.55%) were the other Sensex gainers.
Tata Steel (6.57%) , ONGC (4.75%) and Dr Reddy's (2.92%) were the top Sensex losers.
Vedanta fell 6.23 percent to its lowest close since June 30, 2017, after a court halted the proposed expansion of Vedanta Resources Plc's copper smelter in Tamil Nadu. On Tuesday, 11 people were killed when police fired on protesters seeking closure of the plant on environmental grounds.
Metal stocks were the top losers with the BSE metal index falling 3.93% or 534 points to 13,076 level.
Oil and gas index was the second leading loser on BSE falling 3.45% or 491 points to 13,762 level after the government was said to be considering a decision to cut petrol and diesel prices which have hit all-time highs post Karnataka election results on rising brent crude prices.
Drug firm Dr Reddy's Laboratories on Tuesday reported a 3.29 per cent fall in its consolidated net profit to Rs 302.2 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2018, mainly on account of continuing headwinds in the US.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 312.5 crore for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, Dr Reddy's Laboratories said in a filing.
Market breadth was negative with 1110 stocks closing higher against 1544 stocks ending lower on BSE. 123 stocks were unchanged.
Global markets
Shares were mostly lower in Europe and Asia on Wednesday after President Donald Trump raised doubts that a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un planned for June 12 will take place as planned.
France's CAC 40 dipped in early trading, down 1.2 percent to 5,573.71, while Germany's DAX slipped 1.4 percent to 12,983.87. Britain's FTSE 100 edged 0.6 percent lower to 7,832.24. US shares were set to drift lower with Dow futures down 0.6 percent at 24,686. S&P 500 futures shed 0.7 percent to 2,706.70.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 dipped 1.2 percent to finish at 22,689.74, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2 percent at 6,032.50. South Korea's Kospi gained nearly 0.3 percent to 2,471.91. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.8 percent to 30,665.64, while the Shanghai Composite index shed 1.4 percent to 3,168.96.
