Sensex slips 130 pts, Nifty down to 18,733; IndusInd Bank, Infosys, TCS lose

Domestic equities opened lower on Thursday despite Federal Reserve keeping the key policy rate unchanged. BSE benchmark Sensex opened 96.66 points, or 0.15 per cent lower to 63,131.85, while broader NSE Nifty50 slipped 21.05 points, or 0.11 per cent to 18,734.85.

By 9.40 am, Sensex slipped 130.20 points, or 0.21 per cent to trade at 63,098.31, and Nifty50 was down 23.30 points, or 0.12 per cent to 18,732.60.

IT stocks were the biggest losers in the opening trade, dragging the indices, after JP Morgan reiterated its negative stance on Indian information technology (IT) services and downgraded the sector to underweight. Infosys tanked over 1 per cent, followed by TCS, which slipped 0.63 per cent.

Other stocks which dragged the key indices were IndusInd Bank, Hindalco, HDFC Life, ONGC, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, PowerGrid, SBI, and Reliance Industries.

Meanwhile, Divis Lab, Apollo Hospital, Britannia, Cipla, Nestle India, Dr Reddy, Hero MotoCorp, HCLTech, Adani Enterprises, and Eicher Motors were the top gaining stocks by 9.30 am.

Sectorally, the Nifty IT slipped 0.48 per cent, followed by Nifty Metal plunged 0.36 per cent, and the PSU index slipping 0.28 per cent.