SENSEX drops over 300 points, NIFTY50 hovers around 24,300 SBI, L&T top drags

The Indian equity benchmarks edged lower on Monday, August 17, as investor sentiment remained cautious tracking higher crude prices in the global markets. The SENSEX fell as much as 354 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 24,282 dragged down by losses in index heavyweights like State Bank of India, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and Hindustan Unilever.

As of 9:27 am, the SENSEX was down 264 points at 77,745 and NIFTY50 index declined 65 points to 24,301.

Most of the Asian markets were trading higher on Monday. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.01%, China's Shanghai Composite index rose 0.63%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.56% and South Korea's KOSPI surged 2.42%.

US stocks ended lower on Friday after a report suggested that Americans unexpectedly cut their spending in July by the biggest amount in more than a year.

Retail sales fell 0.6% last month, marking the biggest decrease since May 2025, compared with a revised gain of 0.2% in June, according to the Commerce Department data released Friday, news agency AP reported.

Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.2%, S&P 500 index fell 0.17% and tech heavy Nasdaq dropped 0.28%.

Back home, 11 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading lower led by the NIFTY IT index's 1.4% fall. NIFTY PSU Bank, Realty, FMCG, Financial Services, Bank, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas indices also fell between 0.3% and 1.2%.

On the other hand, select media, pharma, healthcare and auto shares were witnessing buying interest.

Broader markets were also facing selling pressure as NIFTY Midcap 100 index declined 0.4% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index slipped 0.14%.

Among the individual shares, Ipca Labs surged as much as 11.75% to hit an intraday high of ₹1,938 after its net profit surged 72.5% to ₹402 crore in June quarter from ₹233 crore in the same period last year.

Infosys was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 1.33% to ₹1,153. HCL Technologies, Tata Motors PV, Dr Reddy's Labs, Wipro, TCS, Jio Financial Services, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, Nestle India and Sun Pharma also fell between 0.7% and 1.3%.

On the flip side, ONGC, Axis Bank, Eicher Motors, Bharat Electronics, Asian Paints, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Maruti Suzuki and Power Grid were top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,695 shares were declining while 1,347 were advancing on the NSE.