Sensex, Nifty fall for second straight session; Nestle jumps 4%

• Wipro fell nearly 3% after the company reported an almost flat consolidated net profit.
• NTPC, Tech Mahindra, JSW Steel were the other major laggards of the day.
• Nestle jumped nearly 4% after the FMCG major reported an increase of 37.28% in net profit.

Equity benchmark indices, the Nifty and the Sensex, declined for the second consecutive session on Thursday amid weak trends in global markets and fresh foreign fund outflows. Disappointing quarterly earnings numbers and revenue forecast from IT services company Wipro also weighed on investor sentiments.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 247.78 points or 0.38% to settle at 65,629.24 points. During the day, it plunged 533.52 points or 0.80% to 65,343.50 points. The Nifty declined 46.40 points or 0.24% to 19,624.70 points.

Among the Sensex firms, Wipro fell nearly 3% after the company reported an almost flat consolidated net profit at Rs 2,667.3 crore for the September quarter, trailing street expectations. It has also projected up to 3.5% fall in revenue in the current quarter on weak global economic outlook and uncertain business environment.

NTPC, Tech Mahindra, JSW Steel, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Reliance Industries were among the other major laggards.

Nestle jumped nearly 4% after the FMCG major reported an increase of 37.28% in net profit at Rs 908.08 crore for the third quarter ended September 30, helped by a consistent performance almost across all major brands.

UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank, Larsen & Toubro and Axis Bank were among the gainers.

Analysing the market action of the day Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Research (Retail) at Kotak Securities said, "Technically, the Nifty is trading near the 50-day SMA (Simple Moving Average). For the traders now, the 50-day SMA or 19,625 would act as a trend decider level. Above the same, we could see a technical bounce back till 19,700-19,735 levels. On the flip side, below 19,625 the index could retest the level of 19,520-19,480."

In Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled in the negative territory.

European markets were trading lower. The US markets ended lower on Wednesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.99% to USD 89.68 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,831.84 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

On Wednesday, the BSE benchmark plunged 551.07 points or 0.83% to settle at 65,877.02 points while the Nifty declined 140.40 points or 0.71% to 19,671.10 points.

(With text inputs from PTI)