Stock Market Today: Sensex Falls Over 400 Points; Nifty Around 21,400 On Weak Cues. All Sectors In The Red

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, Asian Paints, NTPC, PowerGrid, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, JSW Steel emerged lower

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday extended their fall tracking subdued global sentiment. At 10.30 am, the BSE Sensex declined 432 points to 71,069. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 was trading at 21,420, down 151 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Asian Paints, NTPC, PowerGrid, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, JSW Steel emerged lower. On the flip side, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, M&M, Airtel were among the early gainers.  

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCcp index fell 0.11 per cent. while the Smallcap pocket held gains of 0.34 per cent.

Sectorally, all the indices were trading in the red.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE Sensex tumbled 1,628 points to 71,500, while the Nifty50 tanked 460 points to end at 21,571.95.

"At elevated valuations the market needs only a trigger for a sell-off and yesterday this trigger came in the form of HDFC Bank's worse-than-expected results. It is also important to understand that there was a sell-off in other emerging markets like Taiwan and Korea indicating that this is an emerging market correction driven by FPI (Foreign Portfolio Investors) outflows. The FPI sell figure in India yesterday was huge at Rs 10,578 crore. In the context of rising bond yields in the US, FPIs may sell again. But this is likely to be countered by DII (Domestic Institutional Investors) buying in fairly valued large caps with growth potential," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.

In Asian markets, Shanghai quoted lower while Seoul, Tokyo, and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory. The US markets ended lower on Wednesday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 10,578.13 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.26 per cent to $78.08 a barrel.

Meanwhile, the rupee slipped 1 paisa to 83.15 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday amid rising crude oil prices and withdrawal of foreign funds. Despite a weak American currency against major overseas rivals, negative sentiment in domestic equity markets kept the Indian currency under pressure, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic currency opened at 83.16 and inched up to 83.15 against the greenback in morning deals and traded at a loss of 1 paisa over its previous close. On Wednesday, the rupee settled 2 paise lower at 83.14 against the US dollar.