Sensex falls over 200 points, Nifty below 18,700 mark; M&M lags, SBI Life, HDFC Life gain

Domestic equities opened lower on Tuesday amid mixed global cues and after China cut its key lending rates to support the economy.

BSE benchmark Sensex tanked 68.01 points, or 0.11 per cent to open at 63,100.29, while broader NSE Nifty50 slipped 14.25 points, or, 0.08 per cent to 18,741.20.

By 9.21 am, Sensex plunged 204.54 points, or 0.32 per cent to 62,963.76, while Nifty50 fell 60.35 points, or 0.32 per cent to 18,695.10.

Broader markets also extended losses as Nifty 100 fell 0.27 per cent, Nifty 200 tanked 0.25 per cent, and Nity 500 slipped 0.23 per cent.

Sectorally, only PSU Bank and consumer durables indices were trading in green at the time of writing, up over 0.20 per cent. Nifty Media plunged 0.58 per cent, followed by Nifty Auto at 0.50 per cent, Nifty Oil & Gas at 0.45 per cent, and Nifty Financial Services at 0.33 per cent.

Baja Finance, M&M, Hero MotoCorp, Hindustan Unilever, Divis Lab, Maruti, NTPC, UPL, IndusInd Bank, UltraTech Cement, and HDFC were the top losing stocks in the opening session.

IndiGo’s shares jumped in opening trade after the airline placed the largest ever order in aviation history to buy 500 Airbus A320neo family planes. The shares were trading almost 1.80 per cent higher on BSE.

Meanwhile, IIFL Securities plunged 14.36 per cent after market regulator Sebi barred the company from onboarding clients for two years.

SBI Life, Tata Consumer, Wipro, HDFC Life, Power Grid, Nestle India, Infosys, Cipla, Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, JSW Steel, Bharti Airtel, and Axis Bank were the top gainers.