Sensex drops over 150 points, Nifty50 slips below 17,900 dragged by financial stocks; Bharti Airtel top loser

Indian equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty50 slipped into the red after a flat start on Wednesday despite positive moves across global markets after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell refrained from commenting on interest rates in a speech, easing concerns about the tightening monetary policy among investors. Losses in financial stocks weighed on the market though gains in auto and IT shares lent some support. 

Both headline indices on Dalal Street slid as much as 0.3 per cent below the flatline in early deals. The Sensex lost as much as 176.8 points to hit 59,938.7 on the downside and the Nifty50 declined to as low as 17,866.5, down 47.7 points from its previous close.  

At 9:20 am, the 30-scrip index was down 117.8 points or 0.2 per cent at 59,997.7 and the Nifty50 down 37 points or 0.2 per cent at 17,877.2. A total of 33 stocks in the Nifty50 basket traded in the negative zone. 

Bharti Airtel, Adani Enterprises, Cipla, HDFC, Eicher Motors, Hindustan Unilever and Divi's Labs -- trading between 0.8 per cent and three per cent lower -- were the top laggards. On the other hand, Hindalco, Tata Motors, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Infosys and HCL Tech, holding on to gains of between 0.5 per cent and 1.6 per cent, were the top blue-chip gainers.

Reliance, Bharti Airtel, HDFC and ICICI Bank were the biggest drags on both main gauges, together accounting for a loss of more than 150 points in Sensex. 

Overall market breadth favoured the bulls, with an advance-decline ratio of 5:8 as 917 stocks rose and 547 fell on BSE. 

Analysts awaited the corporate earnings season to pick up for domestic cues, with IT majors Infosys, Wipro and HCL Tech due to report their quarterly numbers this week. On Monday, TCS posted a mixed set of financial results. 

"The biggest drag on the market in the near term is sustained selling by FIIs. Higher valuations in India and attractive valuations in markets like China are nudging FIIs to sell in India and move money to cheaper markets. Even though this is a short-term challenge, this can also turn out to be an opportunity for long-term investors," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Global markets

Equities in other Asian markets started the day stronger as investors braced for US inflation data that will influence the future course of rate hikes in the world's largest economy. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.4 per cent at the last count. 

S&P 500 futures were flat, suggesting a muted start ahead on Wall Street. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 finished 0.7 per cent higher, the Dow Jones rose 0.6 per cent and the tech stocks-heavy Nasdaq Composite one per cent.

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