Indian equity benchmarks made a dramatic U-turn after a gap-up start on Wednesday, dashing nascent hopes about a bounceback from five-month lows, as a string of financial stocks gave in to the red zone in the second half of the choppy session. The Nifty50 finished below the 17,000 mark for the first time since October 11, 2022.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

The Sensex shed 344.3 points or 0.6 per cent to end at 57,555.9 — retreating 917.7 points from the day's high and taking its total losses to 2,792.2 points in five days. The Nifty50 settled at 16,972.2, shedding 71.2 points or 0.4 per cent of its value for the day. 

Bharti Airtel (BHARTIARTL), IndusInd (INDUSINDBK), Reliance, Hindustan Unilever (HINDUNILVR), SBI, HDFC Bank (HDFCBANK) and Nestle (NESTLEIND) were the worst hit among the 28 laggards in the Nifty50 basket. On the other hand, Adani Enterprises (ADANIENT), Adani Ports (ADANIPORTS), Asian Paints (ASIANPAINT), Tata Steel (TATASTEEL), Titan, Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and PowerGrid were the top gainers in the blue-chip index. 

TOP NIFTY GAINERS TOP NIFTY LOSERS
Stock Change (%) CMP Stock Change (%) CMP
ADANIENT 5.7 1,838 NESTLEIND -1.3 18,021.1
ADANIPORTS 4.2 682 HDFCBANK -1.4 1,543
ASIANPAINT 3.1 2,831.1 SBIN -1.5 517.8
TATASTEEL 2.2 108.7 HINDUNILVR -1.5 2,407
TITAN 1.9 2,400 RELIANCE -1.7 2,237.5
BPCL 1.5 331 INDUSINDBK -1.9 1,043.8
POWERGRID 1.4 228.5 BHARTIARTL -1.9 757

Read more on top gainers and losers

Among heavyweights, Reliance, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Bharti Airtel and HUL were the biggest drags on both headline indices.

The Nifty Bank — whose constituents comprise 12 major lenders in the country — lost 359.9 points or 0.9 per cent to close at 39,051.5, dragged by HDFC Bank, SBI and ICICI Bank.

Editor's Take

Earlier in the day, Zee Business Managing Editor Anil Singhvi said he sees a strong buy zone for the Nifty50 coming in at 16,750-16,850 levels. He expects a strong buy zone for the banking index in the 38,725-38,950 region. 

highlights of the March 15 session on Dalal Street here. For all other news related to business, politics, tech, sports and auto, visit Zeebiz.com