Sensex drops 200 pts, Nifty tests 24,700; Infosys lends support

Indian benchmarks — BSE Sensex and Nifty50 — which started at fresh record highs on Friday, led by Infosys and HDFC Bank, were seeing selling pressure amid global sell-off.

The BSE Sensex hit a record high of 81,587 in early deals, before paring gains to trade at 81,186, down 157 points. The NSE Nifty50, meanwhile, hit a new lifetime high of 24,854, before quoting at 24,722, down 79 points.

Infosys share price moved 4 per cent higher after the company posted better-than-expected Q1FY25 results, and also raised FY25 revenue growth forecast to 3-4 per cent. HCL Tech, TCS, ITC, and Nestle India were the other top gainers.

On the downside, Power Grid, Ultratech Cement, Tata Steel, NTPC, Tech M, JSW Steel, Axis Bank, and Bharti Airtel were the top laggards, down up to 2.3 per cent.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index fell 0.9 per cent, and the BSE SmallCap index dipped 0.77 per cent.

Among sectors, the Nifty IT index advanced 1 per cent, followed by the Nifty FMCG index (up 0.09 per cent). The Nifty Metal, and Realty indices was the top losers, down over 1 per cent each, followed by the Nifty PSU Bank, Pharma, and Auto indices (down 0.6 per cent each).