SENSEX drops over 250 points, NIFTY50 falls below 22,550; Auto index falls 3%

The Indian equity benchmarks edged lower on Thursday, October 1, as investor sentiment took a knock after foreign institutional investors sold shares worth ₹10,148.41 crore on Wednesday and for the month of September they turned net sellers to the tune of ₹35,861 crore amid rising bond yields in the United States.

The SENSEX fell as much as 293 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 22,543 dragged down by losses in Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, Eternal, Bajaj Finance and Maruti Suzuki.

As of 9:21 am, the SENSEX was down 130 points at 72,349 and NIFTY50 index declined 65 point to 22,555.

Asian markets were mixed tracking a drop in crude prices in global markets. Brent crude futures for delivery in December cooled down to $98 per barrel as investors assessed the outcome of US-Iran peace talks and the outlook for Middle East crude exports.

Japan's Nikkei surged 2.43% while while South Korea's KOSPI declined 0.11%.

Markets in China and Hong Kong were closed on account of holiday.

Overnight, most of the US stocks ended lower on the back of rising bond yields after data reports suggested the US economy was stronger than earlier thought.

Back home, 10 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading lower led by the NIFTY Auto index's 3% fall. Auto shares came under selling pressure as monthly sales numbers for September failed to enthuse investors.

NIFTY FMCG, Media, Metal, Pharma, PSU Bank, Realty, Healthcare and Oil & Gas indices also fell between 0.5% and 1.5%.

On the other hand, NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, IT and Private Bank indices were trading higher.

Broader markets were underperforming their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index dropped 0.6% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index declined 1%.

Bajaj Auto was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 5% to ₹10,332 after its two-wheeler domestic sales in September rose 9% to 2,94,456 units.

Apollo Hospitals, Mahindra & Mahindra, Grasim, Eternal, Eicher Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Shriram Finance, Tata Motors PV and Max Healthcare also fell between 1.43% and 2.3%.

Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys, HCL Technologies, HDFC Life, Tata Consumer Products, TCS, HDFC Bank and BSE also rose between 1,6% and 2.7%.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,995 shares were declining while 954 were advancing on the NSE.