Sensex Falls Over 300 Points Amid Weak Global Cues, Nifty Trades Below 15,700
Indian equity benchmarks on Friday traded lower in opening deals, moving in tandem with the global markets. Asian stocks made a shaky start today as investors turned increasingly nervous about the global economic outlook.
Overnight, Wall Street recorded a 21 per cent fall in the first six months of this year — the worst since 1970.
Trends on the Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange (SGX Nifty) indicated a gap-down start for the domestic indices.
The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 331 points or 0.62 per cent to 52,688 in early session, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 113 points or 0.71 per cent lower to trade at 15,668.
Mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a weak note today as Nifty Midcap 100 slipped 0.56 per cent and small-cap shed 0.45 per cent.
13 out of the 15 sector gauges — compiled by the National Stock Exchange — were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty Bank, Nifty Auto and Nifty Consumer Durables were underperforming the NSE platform by falling as much as 0.83 per cent, 1.16 per cent and 1.29 per cent, respectively.
On the stock-specific front, Titan was the top Nifty loser as the stock cracked 2.59 per cent to ₹ 1,891. Bajaj Auto, Dr Reddy’s, Tata Motors and HDFC were also among the laggards.
The overall market breadth was slightly positive as 1,084 shares were advancing while 1,061 were declining on BSE.
On the 30-share BSE index, Titan, Dr Reddy’s, M&M, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC, Bajaj Finance, SBI, Maruti, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and Sun Pharma were among the top losers.
In contrast, Asian Paints, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Tata Steel, UltraTech Cement, Wipro and IndusInd Bank were trading in the green.
Also, shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country’s biggest insurer and largest domestic financial investor, edged 0.23 per cent higher to trade at ₹ 675.15.
Sensex had declined 150 points or 0.28 per cent to close at 53,027 on Thursday, while Nifty had moved 51 points or 0.32 per cent lower to settle at 15,799.