Closing Bell: Markets witness last hour sell-off; settle lower for 5th straight session dragged by IT, FMCG stocks

Indian markets witnessed a last-hour sell-off on Tuesday’s trading session to settle in the red for the fifth straight session. The BSE Sensex slipped over 700 points and Nifty50 settled below the 17000-mark. IT, FMCG, and financials dragged the markets. Broader markets underperformed the benchmark indices. 

At the market closing time, the BSE Sensex plunged around 703 points or 1.23 per cent to 56,188 levels, while Nifty50 plummeted by 215 points or 1.25 per cent to the 16,958-mark. Underperforming the benchmarks, the mid and small cap from broader markets cracked around 1.5 per cent at the close. 

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Mere 6 stocks closed in the green, while 44 were in the red on Nifty50. HDFC twins – HDFC Bank and HDFC continue to create weakness in the market for the second day. This time HDFC Life Insurance also joined the downward rally, along with SBI Life Insurance.

HDFC cracked most by over 6 per cent to become the top laggard followed by HDFC Life down nearly 5.5 per cent, while SBI Life and HDFC Bank each slipped between 4 and 4.5 per cent at the close.

On the contrary, Apollo Hospitals surged over 5 per cent to become a top gainer in an otherwise negative market, followed by Coal India and Reliance Industries each up over 3 per cent at the close.

Sectorally, all indices closed in the red with IT, FMCG, and Realty tumbling most in the range of 2-3 per cent each on the NSE. While financial services and Media slipped almost 2 per cent each at the market close today. And, Nifty Bank and Metals dipped over 1 per cent at the close.