Markets end in red for 2nd straight week

Mumbai: Stock markets ended in red for the second straight week on persistent selling pressure from operators on the back of heavy foreign capital outflows amid fall in crude oil prices below USD 30 a barrel. Rising of inflation figure and a fall in industrial production also affected the market sentiment.

A Finance Ministry statement said the government will stick to fiscal consolidation road-map without compromising on development spending and expenditure budgeted for the current fiscal failed to stem the rout. On a weekly basis, the BSE Sensex fell by 479.29 points, or 1.92 per cent, to 24,455.04, its weakest closing since May 30, 2014, while the broader NSE Nifty lost 163.55 points, or 2.15 per cent, to 7,437.80.

The Sensex dropped by 1,705.86 points, or 6.52 per cent and the NSE Nifty by 525.40 points, or 6.60 per cent in two weeks. Markets traded in the negative zone for most part of the week on renewed sell-off in global indexes after oil slumped further into multi-year lows. Rising for the fifth straight month, retail inflation or CPI quickened to 5.61 per cent in December, limiting the headroom for the Reserve Bank to lower rate next month.

For the 14th month in a row, wholesale prices fell in December but the rate of decline at 0.73 per cent was the slowest in last one year as food prices shot up, indicating return of inflationary pressures. Industrial production contracted by 3.2 per cent in November -- the lowest level in over four years -- due to poor performance of manufacturing sector and a sharp decline in capital goods output.