Sentiment Remains Weak In Markets, Sensex Falls 150 Points, Nifty Under 24,800

On Sensex, ITC emerged as the largest laggard after the conglomerate’s largest shareholder, BAT, revealed that it would offload 2.3 per cent of its stake in the company to institutional investors.

Other laggards included Nestle, Titan, M&M, and Maruti. Meanwhile, the gainers included Infosys, Eternal, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, and Adani Ports, among others.

Source : Freepik

The Indian markets witnessed a muted start to trading on Wednesday after indices experienced major losses in the previous session a day earlier. The BSE Sensex slipped more than 50 points and traded under 81,500, while the NSE Nifty50 remained almost flat at 24,828, as of 9:20 AM.

As markets progressed, the indices continued to take a hit. As of 9:33 AM, the Sensex tanked over 200 points and stood at 81,328, while the Nifty declined 61 points and inched closer to 24,750.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, ITC emerged as the largest laggard as markets reacted to the conglomerate’s largest shareholder, BAT, announced that it would offload 2.3 per cent of its stake in the company to institutional investors.

Other laggards included Nestle, Titan, M&M, and Maruti. Meanwhile, the gainers included Infosys, Eternal, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, and Adani Ports, among others.

Broader Markets, Asian Indices, Oil Prices

In the broader markets, the Nifty Smallcap 100 index dominated in green and climbed 0.43 per cent, while the Nifty100 inched 0.12 per cent lower. Sectorally, the FMCG index stood as the largest laggard and tanked 1.29 per cent. On the other hand, the Midsmall IT&Telecom index climbed 0.79 per cent in the session so far.

Globally, the US markets ended trading slighlty higher on Tuesday. In Asia, South Korea, Shanghai, and Japan saw indices trading in green, while Hong Kong's benchmark, Hang Seng, remained in the negative territory. 

The Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) purchase Indian equities worth Rs 348.45 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data. Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.37 per cent to touch $64.33 a barrel.

The Indian rupee also took a major hit and declined 23 paise to touch 85.63 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday. This depreciation in the domestic unit was attributed to a strong American dollar and rising crude oil prices.