FIRST TRADE: Sensex slips over 350 pts; Nifty below 21,150; Axis Bank plunges post-Q3 results

Stock market today: Domestic equity indices Sensex and Nifty 50 on Wednesday (January 24) began Wednesday's session in the red, extending the previous day's losses, amid persistent weakness in the banking pack led by Axis Bank after the private sector lender posted a quarterly net interest income that fell short of analysts' estimates. 

Both headline indices fell as much as 0.5 per cent within the first few minutes of trade. The Sensex lost 369 points to 70,001.6 while the Nifty50 slid to as low as 21,137.2, down 101.6 points from its previous close. 

At the last count, the Sensex was down 148.8 points at 70,221.8 while the Nifty was down 30 points at 21,208.9. 

"The valuations in the broader market had become excessive and unsustainable as pointed out many times recently. The trigger for the correction came mainly from the sustained selling by FIIs who have sold equity worth Rs 27,830 crore during the last five days. Some news and rumours also contributed to the selling in the market. There is news that SEBI is tightening the ultimate beneficiary norms for FPIs starting February 1. This might have triggered some FPI selling. Also, there is a rumour floating around that the finance minister may tweak the LTCG tax taking away the advantages investors are enjoying now. Such rumours are normal during the Budget time," said Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Selling by FPIs and more corrections in the broader market are likely and investors may wait for the market to stabilise, said Vijayakumar, adding: "Safety now is in fairly priced large caps."

Among broader indices, while Nifty Midcap 100 was in the red, its smallcap counterpart traded flat with a positive bias. The high-beta Nifty Bank was down nearly half a per cent at 44,804.2. 

BUZZING STOCKS

Pidilite Industries shares were up over 4 per cent after the company posted strong Q3 results.

REC shares were up over 4 per cent a day after the company posted Q3 results.

Indus Tower shares rose over 3 per cent a day after the company posted a good Q3 with profit increasing 18.9 per cent year-on-year (YoY).

Conversely, Axis Bank shares slipped over 4 per cent a day after the private sector lender posted Q3 results.

Tata Elxsi shares were down over 4 per cent a day after the company posted Q3 results.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian shares rose on Wednesday on optimism that Chinese authorities will offer support for its stock markets, which have plummeted to multi-year lows, while a hawkish tilt from the Bank of Japan lifted the yen. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan opened a new tab that was 0.27 per cent higher. Still, the index is down 5 per cent in January, set for its worst monthly performance since August.

(With inputs from agencies.)

Catch the latest stock market updates here. For all other news related to business, politics, tech and auto, visit Zeebiz.com.