Nifty slips to 22,250; Private banks defy weakness

Equity benchmark indices opened lower on Wednesday tracking losses in global markets as investors await US Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony before the Congress later today. The BSE Sensex fell 200 points to 73,485 and the NSE Nifty50 slipped 56 points to 22,300.

IT stocks extended losses for second day. Tech M, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCLTech fell nearly 1 per cent, leading losses among largecaps on the Sensex.

On the flip side, SBI Life, Grasim, RIL, JSW Steel, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Bank were among the top frontline gainers.

The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices also slipped up to 0.6 per cent.

Nifty Financials was the only gainer, while other pockets declined. IT and Media indices on the NSE led declines.

Among stocks, IIFL Finance slumped another 20 per cent today after the RBI action. JM Financial cracked 14 per cent as the central bank barred it from giving loans against shares and debentures.