Sensex Slips Over 400 Points In Early Trade, Nifty Below 17,600

The Indian equity benchmarks opened on a negative note on Wednesday amidst weak global cues. The BSE Sensex fell as much as 421 points, whereas the Nifty fell sharply by as much as 17,519.

At 9:21 am, the Sensex was down 369 points or 0.62 per cent at 58,827, whereas the Nifty 50 index declined 94 points or 0.54 per cent at 17,560. The Nifty Midcap 50 index advanced 0.10 per cent to 8,660, whereas the Nifty Midcap 100 index surged 0.19 per cent to 31,764. Barring stocks of FMCG, media, pharmaceutical, and healthcare which were trading marginally in green, all other sectoral indices were trading in the red. 

Meanwhile, the US stocks ended lower on Tuesday, marking the fourth straight week of losses, as investors worry about inflation and an aggressive rate hike by the US Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 slumped 16.07 points or 0.4 per cent to 3,908, whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by 173.14 points or 0.6 per cent to 31,145. While the Nasdaq slipped 85.96 points or 0.7 per cent to 11,544, the Russell 2000 index dropped 17.42 points or 1 per cent to 1,792. 

The Asian stocks were trading on a mixed note on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index slipped sharply by 1.09 per cent, whereas Singapore’s Hang Seng index was trading 1.53 per cent lower. South Korea’s KOSPI plunged 1.53 per cent. China’s Shanghai Composite was trading marginally higher by 0.15 per cent, whereas Shenzhen Component was trading flat.

Back home, Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Nestle India, Power Grid, UltraTech Cement, NTPC, and Bajaj Finserv were the only gainers, whereas IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, HCL Technology, Infosys, HDFC Twin, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries and Kotak Bank were amongst the top losers.