Sensex Falls Over 600 Points, Nifty Below 23,350; PSU Stocks Top Drags

On November 21, Indian indices opened lower amid weak global cues. At 10 AM, the BSE Sensex was at 76,999, down 578 points, or 0.75 per cent, while the Nifty 50 was at 23,314, down 203 points, or 0.87 per cent.

Among the major gainers on the Nifty were Tech Mahindra, TCS, Hindalco, Bharti Airtel, and HDFC Bank. The top losers included SBI, NTPC, Dr. Reddy’s Labs, Britannia, and ONGC.

Adani group stocks under pressure

Shares of Adani Group companies fell sharply on Thursday after US prosecutors charged the billionaire chairman of the Indian conglomerate in an alleged bribery and fraud scheme.

Shares of Adani Energy Solutions were the worst affected as they crashed 20%. Adani Green shares were down around 18% while Adani Total Gas and Adani Power fell 13-14%. On the other hand, Adani Enterprises, Ambuja Cements, ACC and Adani Ports were locked in 10% lower circuit limits. NDTV shares were down 11% while Adani Wilmar fell 8% and the newly-acquired Sanghi Industries fell 6%.

Global Cues

That apart, markets in the Asia-Pacific region mostly fell on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.72 per cent, and the broad-based Topix slipped 0.31 per cent.

South Korea’s Kospi was the only outlier in the region, rising 0.14 per cent, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.30 per cent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was close to the flatline with a negative bias.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was lower by 0.33 per cent, while mainland China’s CSI300 was down 0.38 per cent and the Shanghai Composite was 0.2 per cent lower.

Global shares, meanwhile, had edged lower on Wednesday as markets weighed tensions between Russia and the West, while bitcoin hit a new record high and the dollar gained after three straight sessions of losses.