Indian stock market declined on Thursday after gaining 529.62 points in the last four trading sessions. The BSE Sensex ended 186.33 points or 0.90% lower at 20,536.64 points, while the NSE Nifty ended 61.30 points or 1% lower at 6,091.45 points.
However, experts feel that markets remain strong and investors continue to be bullish. “Markets are consolidating in the range. This a correction and there is no reason to panic. Investors remain bullish in the medium- to long-term,” said Nirmal Jain, founder and chairman, India Infoline.
Most Asian indices ended lower with the HSBC’s preliminary reading showing that the Chinese Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for February had contracted to 48.3, from 49.5 recorded in January. The Hang Seng (-1.19%), KOSPI (-0.64%), Taiwan Taiex (-0.61%) and Shanghai Composite (–0.18%) ended in the red.
Back home, among individual stocks, ICICI Bank (-2.15%), Bharti Airtel (-1.98%) and State Bank of India (-1.80%) were among the major losers on the 30-share Sensex Among sectoral indices, the BSE Bankex (-1.63%), BSE Metal (-1.01%) and BSE Oil & Gas (-0.89%) were the major losers.
