Market consolidates amid hopes of govt intervention; more than 470 stocks hit 52-week low, rupee falls to 72/$

The Indian rupee fell to 72.04 against the US dollar, the lowest level since November 14, 2018, due to stronger dollar and FII outflow.

After hitting a new low for August, the benchmark indices continued to consolidate on August 23 amid hopes that the government would take some corrective measures like a rollback of FPI surcharge, provide stimulus to ailing sectors etc.

The BSE Sensex fell 64.46 points to 36,408.47 after losing nearly 600 points in the previous session. The Nifty50 shed 2.60 points to 10,738.80 at the time of publishing this copy.

"The recent fall is a result of growing uneasiness among the participants as they’re keenly awaiting some action from the government to boost the market sentiment," Ajit Mishra Vice President - Research at Religare Broking told Moneycontrol.

"Nifty has now reached closer to its immediate and critical support of 10,750 so we may see some consolidation or pause ahead. We suggest continuing with 'sell on rise' approach and focusing more on stock selection now," he said.

More than 470 stocks hit their 52-week low today including largecaps like ITC, ONGC, IndusInd Bank, Hindustan Zinc, GAIL India, Grasim Industries, Eicher Motors, Tata Steel, Cipla, DLF.
Among others, GIC, Motherson Sumi, NMDC, Bank of India, Bharat Forge, Page Industries, New India Assurance, L&T Finance, IDBI Bank and Ashok Leyland also hit a year low.

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee fell to Rs 72.04 against the US dollar, the lowest level since November 14, 2018, due to a stronger dollar and FII outflow.

The BSE Sensex fell nearly 8 percent and more than Rs 14.5 crore worth of investors' wealth eroded since July 5, the Budget day.

FIIs have been net sellers since then, pulling out more than Rs 25,000 crore from the Indian markets.