Sensex Falls Over 250 Points, Nifty Below 17,200 Banking Shares Worst Hit

The Indian equity benchmarks edged lower on Thursday ahead of weekly expiry of index futures and option contracts due later today amid weak cues from other Asian markets. The Sensex fell as much as 546 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 17,091. HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC and Titan were among the top drags on the Sensex.

As of 9:27 am, the Sensex was down 274 points at 57,410 and Nifty 50 index declined 75 points to 17,170.

Stocks slipped Thursday in Asia following a retreat on Wall Street as crude oil prices rose sharply.

Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai were lower while Sydney edged higher. U.S. futures rose and U.S. benchmark crude oil was trading near $116 per barrel.

After a rally last week, markets have been up and down this week as investors weigh concerns about rising inflation and slower economic growth.

Investors are watching to see the outcome of meetings of NATO and a European leaders summit Thursday, where President Joe Biden will huddle with key allies to discuss imposing punishing new sanctions on Russia; and dealing with the extraordinary humanitarian crisis due to its invasion of Ukraine and working on a consensus on how to respond if Russia were to launch a cyber, chemical or even nuclear attack.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 25 lost 1.1 per cent to 27,727.76. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong slipped 0.3 per cent to 22,087.39. In Seoul, the Kospi declined 0.8 per cent to 2,714.33, while the Shanghai Composite index gave up 0.8 per cent to 3,246.19.

Back home, eight of 115 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Media index's over 3 per cent gain. Select metal, pharma, IT and FMCG shares were also witnessing buying interest.

On the other hand, Nifty Bank, Financial Services and Private Bank indices fell over 1 per cent each.

Among the individual shares, Zee Entertainment surged 15 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 294 after its largest shareholder Invesco Developing Markets Fund yesterday decided not to pursue an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to add six independent directors as Zee’s merger with Sony will achieve the fund’s aim of strengthening board oversight.

Kotak Mahindra Bank was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 3.55 per cent to Rs 1,707. Titan, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, Asian Paints, Eicher Motors, Divi's Labs and SBI Life also fell between 0.5-1.8 per cent.

On the flipside, Coal India, Dr Reddy's Labs, ONGC, Hindalco, ITC, Adani Ports, Mahindra & Mahindra, JSW Steel, TCS and UPL were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,563 shares were trading higher while 1,123 were trading lower on the BSE.