Stock Market: Sensex Slides 338 Points, Nifty Ends Around 17,050. PSU Bank, Metal, IT Stocks Worst Hit

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, M&M, TCS, Bajaj twins, Wipro, Kotak Bank, TechM, HCL Tata Motors were the top-most losers, down 1–2 per cent each

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Tuesday closed in the red under selling pressure with IT, auto, power, and realty shares taking a knock amid high volatility.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 57,900, down 338 points. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 setted with a loss of 111 points at 17,043.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, M&M, TCS, Bajaj twins, Wipro, Kotak Bank, TechM, HCL Tata Motors were the top-most losers, down 1–2 per cent each. On the flip side, Titan, Bharti Airtel and Larsen & Toubro were few of the notable gainers.

Among specific stocks, shares of Adani Group ended on a weak note today. Adani Enterprises plunged over 7 per cent. Adani Power, Adani Transmission, Adani Wilmar, NTDB and Adani Total Gas were locked at the 5 per cent lower circuit. Adani Ports and Ambuja Cements were down around 4 per cent each.

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap index dropped 0.5 per cent while the Smallcap index fell 0.8 per cent.

All the sectoral indices ended in the red with power, realty, information technology, PSU Bank, metal, and auto tumbled 1-2 per cent.

In the previous session on Monday, the BSE Sensex ended at 58,237, down 897 points. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty closed trade at 17,154, down 259 points.

"Markets are dancing to the global tunes and we’ll see the reaction to the US inflation in early trade on Wednesday. Indications are in the favour of some breather after the recent slide but the upside seems capped too," Ajit Mishra, VP - Technical Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.

On March 12, US regulators closed Signature Bank, just two days after shutting Silicon Valley Bank, following mass withdrawals of customer deposits from these regional banks.

Moody's on Tuesday said that most Asia Pacific financial institutions are not exposed to the failed US banks and are not as susceptible to large losses from debt security holdings as Silicon Valley Bank was, Moody's said on Tuesday.

In Asian markets, Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Seoul ended with significant losses. However, European equity markets were trading on a mixed note in the afternoon trade. Major indices on Wall Street settled lower in the overnight trade.

International oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.56 per cent to $79.51 per barrel.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 1,546.86 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee declined 26 paise to close at 82.49 against the US dollar on Tuesday.