Sensex sheds 502 pts, Nifty gives up 17,350 as D-Street resumes fall after a day's breather

Indian equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty50 continued to fall on Thursday a day after halting a losing streak that stretched to eight back-to-back sessions. Broad-based losses weighed on the headline indices, with financial and IT shares posing the maximum pressure. Globally, nervousness persisted among investors as investors fretted over the possibility of higher-for-longer interest rates, fuelled by signs of sticky inflation in the world's largest economy and hawkish remarks from Fed officials.

The Sensex ended 501.7 points or 0.8 per cent lower at 58,909.4 and the Nifty50 settled at 17,321.9, down 129 points or 0.7 per cent from its previous close.

Investors lost Rs 94,030.6 crore in wealth in a day as the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies came down to Rs 260 lakh crore, according to provisional exchange data. 

Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, SBI Life and Nestle, finishing the day between 1.6 per cent and 2.6 per cent lower, were the worst hit among the 36 laggards in the Nifty50 basket. On the other hand, Adani Ports, Coal India, Bharat Petroleum, Adani Enterprises and Hero MotoCorp emerged the top blue-chip gainers, rising between 1.4 per cent and 3.1 per cent.

Among heavyweights, Infosys, TCS, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Reliance were the biggest drags on the 30-scrip index.

All Adani group stocks — including the flagship Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports and Adani Power — rose for the day in some respite for investors, after the Supreme Court ordered the formation of a six-member panel to probe the recent crash in Adani shares. However, most of the group's stocks have suffered heavy losses since the release of a report by US-based Hindenburg Research in January 25, accusing the Indian conglomerate of stock manipulation and improper use of offshore tax havens.

The Adani group has denied any wrongdoing, dismissing the Hindenburg report as baseless. ALSO READ: Adani Group hits back at Hindenburg, calls allegations attack on India

Barring the Nifty Realty — which rose 2.1 per cent — and the Nifty Oil & Gas — finishing barely in the green, all sectors on NSE closed in the red. 

Overall market breadth favoured the bears, with an advance-decline ratio of 4:5 as 1,538 stocks rose and 1,936 fell at the close on BSE. 

"Rising bond yields are driving foreign money out of emerging markets, and as a result, foreign institutional investors are net sellers in the domestic market for a sixth straight day," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

As of Wednesday, foreign institutional investors took out a net Rs 10,474 crore from Indian shares in six consecutive sessions, according to provisional exchange data. However, domestic institutional investors made net purchases to the tune of Rs 11,699 crore during this period. 

Meanwhile, India awaited the final verdict of state elections, with the BJP and its allies looking set to retain majority in Nagaland and Tripura. Catch latest on state elections in Tipura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and bypolls in Erode, Chinchwad, Kasba Peth and Sagardighi

Global markets

European markets began the day in the red, taking a weak handover from major Asian peers, amid fears the Fed and the ECB will continue to hike key lending rates to counter red-hot inflation. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 0.7 per cent in early hours to a one month low.

Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite futures fell around half a per cent each, suggesting a weak start ahead on Wall Street.

Catch minute-by-minute highlights of the March 2 session on Dalal Street here. For all other news related to business, politics, tech, sports and auto, visit Zeebiz.com.