Sensex, Nifty Decline For Third Day In A Row Dragged By HDFC Twins

The Indian equity benchmarks fell for third straight session on Wednesday dragged by losses in HDFC, HDFC Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Reliance Industries and Asian Paints. The benchmarks staged a gap up opening but gave up intraday gains owing to volatility due to weekly expiry of index futures and option contracts. The Sensex fell as much as 713 points from the day's highest level and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 17,457 after hitting an intraday high of 17,663.

The Sensex fell 237 points to close at 58,339 and Nifty 50 index dropped 55 points to settle at 17,476.

Meanwhile, global shares were mostly higher Wednesday after new data showed inflation in the U.S., while still at a 40-year high, was not as bad as some analysts had expected.

Benchmarks finished higher in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Australia. U.S. futures and oil prices also rose.

France’s CAC 40 inched up less than 0.1 per cent in early trading to 6,538.59, while Germany’ DAX lost 0.5 per cent to 14,055.65. Britain’s FTSE 100 added 0.1 per cent to 7,583.85. U.S. shares were set to drift higher with Dow futures up 0.5 per cent at 34,291.00. S&P 500 futures rose 0.6 per cent to 4,419.00.

Back home, nine of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty Private Bank index's 1 per cent fall. Nifty Auto, Bank, Financial Services, Media and Realty indices also fell between 0.5-1 per cent.

On the other hand, FMCG, oil & gas and healthcare indices rose between 0.4-0.8 per cent.

Broader markets outperformed their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 index closed on a flat note while Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.2 per cent.

Among the individual shares, Anand Rathi Wealth rose as much as 16.4 per cent to hit record high of Rs 711.95 on the BSE a day after it reported its March quarter earnings. The company's net profit jumped more than three times to Rs 346 crore in March quarter compared with Rs 102 crore during the same period last year.

Shares of Hariom Pipe Industries made a stellar stock market debut on Wednesday. Hariom Pipe Industries shares opened for trading at Rs 214 on the BSE compared to its IPO price of Rs 153 per share. The stock rose as much as 47 per cent or Rs 71.70 from the IPO price to hit an intraday high of Rs 224.70. On the National Stock Exchange, Hariom Pipe Industries opened at Rs 220 and hit an intraday high of Rs 231 per share.

Hariom Pipe Industries sold shares in the price band of Rs 144-153 per share via initial public offering between March 30-April 5 and the issue was subscribed 3.57 times, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

Maruti Suzuki was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 2.3 per cent to close at Rs 7,445. HDFC, HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs, Tata Motors, Eicher Motors, Asian Paints, Power Grid, Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Hero MotoCorp also fell between 1-2 per cent.

On the flipside, ONGC, Apollo Hospitals, UPL, ITC, Sun Pharma, JSW Steel, State Bank of India, Shree Cement, Hindustan Unilever and NTPC were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,854 shares closed higher while 1,544 ended lower on the BSE.