Market close October 21: What fell, what rose and what the report does not say

What fell: the Sensex by 143.21 points to 73,709.69 and the Nifty by 77.60 points to 22,811.35.

What rose: the Nifty IT index by 2.52%, the only major sectoral gainer.

What drove it: Brent crude at 110.15 dollars and foreign investor selling, according to Free Press Journal.

What analysts said: Geojit’s Vinod Nair said crude and foreign selling outweighed the trade news.

What is not reported: market breadth, top gainers and losers, and the amount of foreign selling.

The BSE Sensex fell 143.21 points, or 0.19%, to close at 73,709.69, according to Free Press Journal.

The Nifty 50 fell 77.60 points, or 0.34%, to settle at 22,811.35, according to the same report.

Both indices had gained early on optimism over India-US trade negotiations, according to Free Press Journal.

Sunday Guardian Live reported that the Sensex was up more than 500 points at one stage in early trade, with the Nifty near 23,000.

The Nifty IT index rose 2.52% and was the only major sectoral gainer, according to Free Press Journal.

The Nifty Auto index fell 1.99%, Nifty Metal fell 1.97%, Nifty Realty fell 1.57%, Nifty Media fell 1.24% and Nifty Private Bank fell 1.16%, according to the same report.

Liquide reported that the Bank Nifty fell 0.92% to 54,976.90.

Brent crude rose 1.31% to 110.15 dollars a barrel, according to Free Press Journal.

Higher crude prices raised concerns about India’s import costs, inflation, corporate profit margins and rupee volatility, according to the same report.

Continued selling by foreign institutional investors weighed on sentiment, according to Free Press Journal.

Vinod Nair of Geojit Investments said high crude and foreign investor selling outweighed the trade news, while improving second-quarter earnings and buying by domestic institutions provided support.

Vikram Kasat of PL Capital said elevated crude prices could keep markets volatile.

These are the views of the analysts quoted and are not forecasts by this website.

Dalal Street, Mumbai (file image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0