Stock Market: Sensex Plunges 440 Points, Nifty Slips Below 19,700; Cipla Rallies, Tech Mahindra Falls

Stock Update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, Airtel closed in green. On the downside, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra, Nestle, Bajaj Finance emerged as losers.

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday, closed in red amid volatility in intra-day deals ahead of the monthly F&O expiry. The US Federal Reserve interest rates hike in line with the markets' expectations by 25 bps weighed in on indices. At the closing bell, the Sensex slipped 440 points or 0.66 per cent at 66,267, and the Nifty was down 118 points or 0.60 per cent at 19,660.

About 1722 shares advanced, 1735 shares declined, and 133 shares were unchanged.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, L&T, and Infosys were trading in the green. On the downside, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra, Nestle India, Bajaj Finance, and Axis Bank emerged as early losers.

Meanwhile, in the border, the BSE Midcap index saw a 0.5 per cent rise, while the Smallcap index ended with little change.

On Nifty, M&M, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consumer Products, Nestle India, and Britannia Industries emerged as the top losers. On the other hand, Cipla, Sun Pharma, Divis Labs, Apollo Hospitals, and Bharti Airtel were the gainers.

Sectorwise, the auto, oil & gas, bank, and FMCG indices experienced a 0.5-1 per cent dip, while the pharma index surged by 3 per cent, and the realty index saw a 2 per cent increase.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the S&P BSE Sensex settled 351 points higher at 66,707. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 hit a high of 19,826 before closing with a gain of 98 points at 19,778.

Meanwhile, in the Asian markets, Hang Seng gained 1.4 per cent with majority indices rising over 0.5 per cent. 

"The FOMC's decision aligned with market expectations as they implemented a 25bps hike and expressed a data-centric approach for future rate actions. Positive global sentiment prevailed due to the reduced prospects of a US recession. Despite this, the domestic market witnessed sharp corrections led by banks and autos, while pharma stocks performed on a positive start to their earnings season," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said, as per MoneyControl. 

Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 1.01 per cent to $83.76 per barrel.

The rupee gained 7 paise to close at 81.94 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday, tracking the weakness of the American currency in the overseas market after the US Fed raised interest rates on expected lines.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 81.92 against the US dollar and moved in a range of 81.91 to 82.03 in the day trade. The rupee finally settled 7 paise higher at 81.94 (provisional) against the previous close of 82.01 on Friday.