Bulls give up fight as Nifty ends below 5500; ITC wins

The 50-share NSE Nifty closed the F&O expiry session below the 5,500 mark. Uncertainty over US debt deal dampened the mood on the street on Thursday. Heavyweight Reliance Industries was the leading losing counter on Nifty, by closing well below Rs 850 level with loss of 2.7%.

Equity benchmarks consistently maintained their downward journey for the third consecutive session today and ended at one-month low. More-than-expected-hike of 50 basis points by RBI on Tuesday had hammered the market in previous two sessions while the negative global cues weighed on today.

Richard Gibbs of Macquarie Securities said he had rightly expected interest rates in India to rise a full percent this year. ''We have had half of that on Tuesday and we will get another half a percent rise before the end of the year.''

The mess in the US over the debt ceiling has impacted markets in India and emerging markets as well, Gibbs added.

Yesterday US House Speaker John Boehner revised his plan to raise the US debt ceiling as he gained support among fellow Republicans for a proposal. But Senate Democrats said they would not pass their chamber. Even there were reports that debt deadline may be postponed to August 10 instead of August 2.

The US markets plunged between 1.5% & 2.2% yesterday. Asian markets too closed lower today. European markets were down between 0.6% & 1.6%.