Stock Market Snaps Winning Run: Sensex Plunges 637 Points, Nifty Ends Below 18,050. Realty, Metals Dip 2%

Stock update: On 30-share Sensex platform, Tata Motors, Power Grid, Tata Steel, HDFC twins, Infosys, Wipro, RIL, IndusInd Bank, ITC, Nestle, Airtel were the worst hit

Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Wednesday ended day’s trade in the red amid selling across all sectors. The domestic indices snapped their two-day gains as the Street awaited release of the minutes of the US Fed's latest meeting.

The S&P BSE Sensex closed at 60,657, down 637 points. During the session, the Sensex gave up the 61,000 level and slipped 700 points to the day's low of 60,594. On the other hand, the broader NSE Nifty shed 190 points (down 1 per cent) to close at 18,043 level. It had slumped 213 points to touch the day's low of 18,021.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, barring Maruti and TCS, all settled in the negative territory. Tata Motors, Power Grid, Tata Steel, HDFC twins, Infosys, Wipro, Reliance, IndusInd Bank, ITC, Nestle, and Bharti Airtel were the worst hit on the Sensex, down 1-2.5 per cent. On the Nifty, JSW Steel, Hindalco, Coal India and ONGC were the top laggards, which shed up to 4 per cent.

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices lost 1 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively.

Sectorwise, all pockets ended lower led by Nifty Realty, Metal, and PSB indices, which fell 2 per cent each. Pharma index suffered a fractional loss of 0.15 per cent.

Radiant Cash Management Services made a good stock market debut as shares were listed at Rs 103, a 10 per cent premium to its issue price of Rs 94 per share on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Around 12 pm, the initial public offering (IPO) of Sah Polymers was subscribed 7.9 times on the final day of subscription. The qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) subscribed 1.06 times, while the non-institutional investors (NIIs), and retail investors subscribed over 11 times and 23 times, respectively.

In the previous session on Tuesday, the S&P BSE Sensex closed at 61,294, up 126 points. On the other hand, the broader NSE Nifty50 recouped intra-day's losses to close at 18,232, up 35 points.

Meanwhile, the rupee recovered from its all-time low level and settled 18 paise higher at 82.82 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday, supported by easing crude oil prices. Forex traders said the weakness of the greenback in the overseas market, strong Asian peers and suspected intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also helped the currency. However, sustained foreign fund outflows and a weak trend in domestic equities restricted the appreciation bias to some extent.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 82.87 and touched an intra-day high of 82.74 and a low of 82.91 against the greenback. It finally settled at 82.82, registering a rise of 18 paise over its previous close. On Tuesday, the rupee had slumped 22 paise to close at its all-time low of 83 against the dollar.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 2.13 per cent to $80.35 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 628.07 crore, according to exchange data.