FIRST TRADE: Sensex falls over 400 pts, Nifty sinks below 21,950 dragged by IT, financial, energy stocks

Stock market today: Domestic equity benchmarks began Tuesday's session on a weak note amid weakness in IT, financial and energy shares. Dalal Street took mixed cues from global markets as investors remained on the back foot ahead of key central bank decisions in the US and Japan due this week.

Both headline indices fell as much as 0.6 per cent within the first few minutes of trade. The Sensex dropped 432.3 points to hit 72,316.1 on the downside and the Nifty slipped to as low as 21,922.1, down 133.7 points from its previous close.

At 9:25 am, the Sensex was down 309.1 points or 0.4 per cent at 72,439.4 while the Nifty was down 86.4 points or 0.4 per cent at 21,969.

The high beta Nifty Bank was down 0.1 per cent at 46,524.9. 

Meanwhile, broader indices Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 registered minor losses, mirroring the headline gauges.  

"The resilience of the US market, supported by the surprisingly robust economy, is the foundation of the ongoing global market. The end of the decades-long deflation in Japan and the Nikkei index posting record highs also has been a supporting factor. In the near term, a change in the global market construct will happen if the Fed sends a hawkish message stronger than market expectations. This cannot be ruled out since the declining trend in US inflation has been arrested in the last two months and the Fed is always known to respond to “ incoming data and evolving outlook.” The spike in the dollar index and the US bond yields reflect this concern," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. 

"Investors may wait for clarity to emerge on the Fed response tomorrow. Largecaps like RIL, Bharti, Tata Motors, M&M, and Sun Pharma appear strong even in an indecisive market," added Vijayakumar. 

BUZZING STOCKS

Tata Steel shares were up over 1 per cent after the Tata group steelmaker's UK arm said it would increase imports of coke to offset the impact of the coke oven closures. 

HG Infra Engineering shares were up nearly 3 per cent after the company received a LoA of Rs 1,026 crore from Jodhpur Vidyut Vitran Nigam.

Lemon Tree shares were up over 1 per cent after the company signed an agreement to open a hotel in Agartala, Tripura.

Anup Engineering shares were up over 11 per cent as the company's board was scheduled to meet March 20 to consider bonus shares.

Conversely, TCS shares were down over 2 per cent after 2.02 crore shares of the IT major changed hands via a block deal. 

GLOBAL MARKETS 

Asian shares began the day on a weak note, following minor cuts on Wall Street, as investors awaited a key rate decision from the US this week. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.5 per cent at the last count.

In a week filled with central bank meetings across the globe, the BoJ heralded a new era as it shifted away from years of ultra-easy monetary policy.

(With inputs from agencies)

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