The Indian equity benchmarks moved lower on Thursday mirroring losses in global markets ahead of weekly expiry of index futures and option contracts. The Sensex fell as much as 405 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low 17,712. HDFC, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services and Larsen & Toubro were among the top drags on the Sensex, data from BSE showed.
As of 9:29 am, the Sensex was down 387 points or 0.65 per cent at 59,222 and Nifty 50 index fell 95 points to 17,713.
Equity markets fell across the globe as investors' sentiment was shaken after details from last month's meeting of Federal Reserve policymakers showed the central bank intends to be aggressive in its efforts to fight inflation.
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Shares fell across Asia with Japan's Nikkei falling 2 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI declining over 1 per cent and Taiwan Weighted down 1.3 per cent.
Stocks closed lower and bond yields rose on Wall Street Wednesday after details from last month’s meeting of Federal Reserve policymakers showed the central bank intends to be aggressive in its efforts to fight inflation.
The S&P 500 fell 1 per cent, adding to its losses from a day earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.4 per cent and the Nasdaq slid 2.2 per cent.
The minutes from the meeting three weeks ago reveal that Fed policymakers agreed to begin cutting the central bank’s stockpile of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities by about $95 billion a month, starting in May. That’s more than some investors expected and nearly double the pace the last time the Fed shrank its balance sheet.
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Back home, seven of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty IT index's over 1 per cent decline. Nifty Financial Services, Bank, Auto, Private Bank and Consumer Durable indices also fell between 0.4-0.7 per cent.
On the other hand, media, pharma, PSU bank, realty and healthcare shares were facing selling pressure.
Broader markets were trading higher with Nifty Midcap 100 index up 0.4 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index up 0.25 per cent.
Titan was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 2 per cent to Rs 2,486 after the company in its quarterly update said that its jewellery division ended the volatile quarter on a flat note over a strong Q4 FY21 base (had a benefit of a large B2B order). Business saw subdued activity in top cities due to the Omicron wave in Jan'22, a very strong resurgence in Feb'22 and again a drop in customer purchases in Mar'22 on the back of sharp rise in gold prices and sentiment impact due to the external gee-political conflict.
HDFC, UPL, HDFC Bank, Nestle India, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Consultancy Services, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco and Reliance Industries also fell between 1-2 per cent.
On the flipside, Cipla, NTPC, Dr Reddy's Labs, Adani Ports, Divi's Labs, Sun Pharma, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Consumer Products and Apollo Hospitals were among the gainers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 2,004 shares were advancing while 953 were declining on the BSE.
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