Stock markets decline for fourth consecutive day due to profit-taking, with Sensex dropping by 667 points.

Mumbai was in for a rough day as both the Sensex and Nifty suffered a decline of nearly 1 percent on Wednesday. This marked the fourth consecutive day of losses, as investors were cautious ahead of the Lok Sabha election results. The benchmark 30-share BSE Sensex saw a drop of 667.55 points, settling at 74,502.90. It even went below the 75,000 mark, hitting a low of 74,454.55, a staggering 715.9 points decrease. The BSE index had just reached an all-time high of 76,009.68 on May 27th.

The NSE Nifty also saw a decline of 183.45 points or 0.80 percent, settling at 22,704.70. This came after the 50-share barometer had reached a lifetime high of 23,110.80 on Monday. Some of the major laggers in the Sensex pack were Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank, UltraTech Cement, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, and Infosys. On the other hand, Power Grid, Sun Pharma, Nestle, ITC, and Bharti Airtel were among the gainers.

According to Vinod Nair, the Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, the decline in global markets led investors to take profits ahead of the US core PCE data, which is a crucial measure of inflation that is expected to rise. In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, and Hong Kong all saw drops, while Shanghai ended with gains. European markets were also trading lower, while US markets had a mixed closing on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the last phase of polling for the Lok Sabha elections is scheduled for June 1st, with the results set to be declared on June 4th. In global news, the Brent crude oil benchmark saw a climb of 0.88 percent, reaching $84.94 per barrel. As for foreign institutional investors, they bought equities worth Rs 65.57 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

On Tuesday, the BSE benchmark had a volatile day, swinging between gains and losses before finally ending 220.05 points or 0.29 percent lower at 75,170.45. The NSE Nifty also saw a decline of 44.30 points or 0.19 percent, settling at 22,888.15. In a positive development, S&P Global Ratings upgraded India's sovereign rating outlook to positive from stable after 14 years. This was due to the robust growth, improved quality of public spending over the last 5 years, and the expectation of continued reforms and fiscal policies under the Modi government. However, India's sovereign rating was still retained at the lowest investment grade of 'BBB-' by S&P.

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