Sensex down over 700 points at closing, Nifty below 15,500

Benchmark indices closed over one per cent lower on Wednesday, tracking weak global cues. After a two-day pullback rally, indices extended losses through the day, witnessing broad-based selling.

The BSE Sensex closed at 51,822.53, down 709.54 points or 1.35 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 52,272.85 and a low of 51,739.98. The Nifty 50 closed at 15,413.30, down 225.50 points or 1.44 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 15,565.40 and a low of 15,385.95.

Breadth favours decliners

The market breadth remained weak as 2,081 stocks declined on the BSE against 1,250 stocks that advanced. According to the data available on BSE website, 109 stocks remained unchanged. Furthermore, 16 stocks hit the upper circuit against two stocks that were locked in the lower circuit. Besides, 41 stocks touched 52-week high, while 127 touched 52-week low.

According to Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, ”The short-lived pull-back rally displays the level of uncertainty in the market.”

“The weakness of the global market due to quantitative tightening pulled the market down. The US Fed Chair’s testimony later in the day will be keenly watched for clues about the central banks’ future dot-plot,” added Nair.

Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd said, “Markets once again went into a plunge mode as panic-stricken investors taking cues from an early slump in European indices and weakness in other Asian gauges dumped equities, especially metal, power & realty stocks. The market is currently in a very fragile mode as any signs of weakness is prompting traders to exit stocks at will.”

BPCL, Hero Motocorp, Divi’s Lab, TCS and Powergrid were the top gainers on the Nifty 50, while UPL, Hindalco, Tata Steel, JSW Steel and ONGC were the top losers.

Sectoral indices

All sectoral indices closed in red.

Metals recorded the highest losses with Nifty Metal closing nearly 5 per cent lower. Nifty Oil & Gas and Nifty Realty were down over 2 per cent each. Nifty Bank, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty IT, Nifty Pharma, Nifty Healthcare Index and Nifty Consumer Durables were each down over 1 per cent at closing.

Broader indices

Broader market, too, witnessed pressure on Wednesday. Nifty Midcap 50 was down 1.55 per cent, while Nifty Smallcap 50 was down 1.08 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was down 1.53 per cent, while the S&P BSE Smallcap was down 1.11 per cent.

The volatility index rose 0.74 per cent to 21.30.

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