The Sensex and the Nifty plunged nearly 0.9 per cent at the closing session on heavy selling in power, banking, consumer durables and capital goods stocks amid weak European cues.

Domestic sentiment was dampened due to July month F&O expiry today where traders roll over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the near month July 2014 series to August 2014 series.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex plunged 192.45 points to end at 25,894.97 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty fell 70.1 points to end at 7,721.30.

Barring realty, healthcare and metal, all other BSE sectoral indices ended in the red. Among them, power index fell the most by 1.35 per cent, followed by banking 1.18 per cent, consumer durables 0.98 per cent and capital goods 0.84 per cent. On the other hand, realty index was up 0.24 per cent, healthcare 0.17 per cent and metal 0.05 per cent.

Cipla, Tata Steel, Coal India, GAIL and RIL were the major Sensex gainers, while the major losers were NTPC, Axis Bank, M&M, Tata Power and HDFC.

A report by Equentis Capital said: "On the global front, market reaction after the outcome of the two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) monetary policy review meetiing, which concluded on July 30, 2014, will be closely watched."

European stocks declined the most in two weeks as Adidas AG lowered its profit forecast and Banco Espirito Santo SA led a plunge in Portuguese equities. US stock-index futures and Asian shares also fell.

US stocks had ended higher on Wednesday as the US economy grew at an annual rate of 4 per cent in the second quarter. The rebound in the April-June quarter GDP growth reflected gains in consumer spending and business inventory.

Meanwhile, at the end of two-day monetary policy meeting yesterday, the Federal Reserve had said that it is cutting its monthly purchases of government-linked bonds to $25 billion, down from the $35-billion level set at itsbank’s last meeting in June.

The latest cut continues a policy launched in January of regularly trimming the stimulus programme. Until then, the Fed had been buying $85 billion of bonds every month.

The central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at the unprecedented, near-zero level in place since December 2008.

comment COMMENT NOW