Kamal Ghorui
MUMBAI: With the US-Iran ceasefire in West Asia looking fragile, sensex gave up part of Wednesday’s gains to close 931 points lower at 76,632 points on Thursday as foreign funds continued to lead the selloff. Investors around the world were skeptical about the continuation of the truce that was announced on Tuesday as Israel, a US ally, continued to pound Lebanon. In Japan, Nikkei closed 0.7% lower while in late trades in the UK, FTSE was down 0.3%. Across the Atlantic, in the US, the three major indices-Dow Jones, Nasdaq Composite and S&-were all flat in mid-session after opening marginally in the red. In late evening trades Brent was hovering near the psychologically important $100/barrel mark. Selling by foreign funds and the fear of rising crude prices affected investor sentiment in India. The rupee weakened, closing at 92.66/$ as against 92.58 on Wednesday. Gold in Mumbai’s spot market closed at Rs 1.5 lakh/10 gram, down by Rs 600 from its previous close. Silver closed at Rs 2.37 lakh/kg compared to Rs 2.46 lakh on Wednesday.
