Sensex Falls Over 650 Points, Nifty Below 17,800 On Profit Booking

The Indian equity benchmarks extended losses in noon deals as investors booked profits after five days of gains. The Sensex fell as much as 823 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 17,710 dragged by losses in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, State Bank of India and Bajaj Finance.

As of 2:17 pm, the Sensex fell 578 points to 59,720 and Nifty 50 index declined 188 points to 17,768. 

Global markets were trading lower with Germany's DAX was down 0.9 per cent, Britain's FTSE 100 index declined 0.22 per cent and France's CAC 40 index fell 0.65 per cent.

Back home, selling pressure was broad based as thirteen of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Realty index's over 2 per cent fall. Nifty il & Gas, Healthcare, Consumer Durables, Private Bank, PSU Bank, Pharma, Metal, Auto and Bank indices also fell between 1-2.5 per cent.

On the other hand, IT and media stocks were witnessing buying interest.

Mid- and small-cap shares were also facing selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indexes declined nearly 1 per cent each.

IndusInd Bank was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 3.6 per cent to Rs 1,065. Apollo Hospitals, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Motors, Tata Consumer Durables, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, Coal India and NTPC also fell between 2-3 per cent

Adani Ports, Larsen & Toubro, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Bajaj Auto and HCL Technologies were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was negative as 2,039 shares were declining while 1,334 were advancing on the BSE.