Indices back in the red on profit-booking

The frontline stock indices, Sensex and Nifty50, tumbled nearly 1 per cent on Wednesday due to profit-booking in banking, financial, and IT stocks after a recent rally.

The 30-share BSE Sensex plunged 537.22 points or 0.94 per cent to end at 56,819.39 as 24 of its stocks declined. During the day, it declined 772.57 points or 1.34 per cent to touch a low of 56,584.04.

The broader NSE Nifty50 declined by 162.40 points or 0.94 per cent to 17,038.40 with 39 of its constituents ending in the red.

Bajaj Finance was the biggest loser among Sensex stocks, dropping by 7.24 per cent. Bajaj Finserve declined by 3.88 per cent, ICICI Bank by 2.21 per cent and SBI by 1.78 per cent.

IT major Infosys dropped by 1.68 per cent, and Wipro by 1.91 per cent. Titan fell by 2.19 per cent, Dr Reddy's by 1.94 per cent, Ultratech Cement by 1.63 per cent, M&M by 1.46 per cent and Maruti by 1.44 per cent.

In contrast, Tata Steel rebounded by 1 per cent while Asian Paints, HCL Technologies, TCS, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank also advanced.

“The Market continued to be gripped by high volatility following a heavy sell-off in the global markets led by elevated energy crisis and weak Chinese economic outlook underpinned by prospects of US rate hikes,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said.

“Investors are weighing the possibility of a global slowdown due to monetary tightening by central banks, lockdown in China and the Russia-ukraine war. This has resulted in an outflow of funds from equity markets to safe havens,” Nair added.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge declined 0.88 per cent and smallcap index dipped 0.61 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, power fell the most by 1.86 per cent, followed by utilities (1.81 per cent), telecom (1.72 per cent), finance (1.40 per cent) and oil and gas (1.24 per cent). Metal was the only gainer with a marginal gain of 0.02 per cent.

As many as 2,202 stocks declined, while 1,161 advanced and 120 remained unchanged.

Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd said that stock markets plunged sharply lower in continuation of the prevailing consolidation phase.

“Global headwinds like the Russiaukraine crisis, China's lockdown, inflation worries and now earnings are causing erratic swings in the markets across the globe including India,” Mishra said.