Stock Market: Sensex Plunges 500 Points, Nifty Trades Below 16,450; IT, Financials Drag

Stock update: On the BSE, NTPC was the lead gainer, up 0.42 per cent, followed by SBI, RIL, and PowerGrid, while Titan was the prime loser, followed Dr Reddy’s, HUL, Asian Paint, TCS, and others

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices also started in the negative territory, down up to 1 per cent.

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Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Tuesday extended their losses due to foreign fund outflows and subdued global sentiment.

At 10.15 am, the 30-share BSE Sensex was down 528 points to 55147, while the broader NSE Nifty was trading at 16,422, down 146 points.

On the BSE platform, NTPC was the lead gainer, up 0.42 per cent, followed by SBI, Reliance, and PowerGrid. On the flipside, Titan was the prime loser, down 4.06 per cent, followed Dr Reddy’s, HUL, Asian Paint, TCS, and others.

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices also started in the negative territory, down up to 1 per cent.

On NSE, all of the 15 sector gauges were trading in the red. Sectorwise, consumer durables, financials, auto, realty, and banks led losses on the Nifty, down up to 2 per cent. Nifty IT, and FMCG were other notable losers.     

The overall market breadth was slightly weak as 1,192 shares were advancing, while 1,254 were declining on the BSE.

In the previous session on Monday, the Sensex declined 93 points (0.17 per cent) to end at 55,675, while the Nifty fell 14 points (0.09 per cent) to finish at 16,569.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Tokyo and Shanghai were trading in the green, while Hong Kong and Seoul were quoting lower. Stock markets in the US had ended with gains on Monday.

"Two crucial numbers coming this week are significant - RBI's rate hike tomorrow and inflation rate in the US expected on Friday. The market direction is likely to be influenced more by inflation in the US, which, in turn, will decide how far the Fed will go in raising rates. This will be the key determinant of possible 'risk on' or 'risk off' in equity markets globally," said V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.69 per cent to $120.33 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth a net Rs 2,397.65 crore on Monday, according to stock exchange data.