SENSEX drops over 500 points, NIFTY50 below 24,200 dragged down by HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a gap down opening on Monday, July 20, dragged down by losses in heavyweights like HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank after their June quarter earnings failed to enthuse investors. The SENSEX dropped as much as 609 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 24,150.

As of 9:27 am, the SENSEX down 573 points at 77,578 and NIFTY50 index dropped 152 points to 24,181.

South Korea's KOSPI dropped 3.8% after investors raised concerns about the over stretched valuations of artificial intelligence companies. On the flip side, China's Shanghai Composite advanced 1.2% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 2%.

Brent crude futures advanced as much as 3.75% to $91.41 per barrel.

Back home, six of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading lower led by the NIFTY Private Bank index's 2.7% fall. NIFTY Financial Services, Bank, Auto and Realty indices also fell between 0.9% and 1.9%.

On the other hand, oil & gas, healthcare, PSU bank, pharma, metal and select IT shares were witnessing buying interest.

Broader markets were outperforming their larger peers but were trading on a flat note. NIFTY Midcap 100 index advanced 0.14% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.24%.

Among the individual shares, Punjab National Bank surged over 4% after its net profit surged 213% to ₹5,253 crore in the first quarter of current financial year.

Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were top losers in the NIFTY50 index the three stocks dropped 5.82%, 4.51% and 2.88% each respectively after their June quarter numbers failed to impress investors.

InterGlobe Aviation dropped 1.6% tracking a surge in oil prices.

Maruti Suzuki, Shriram Finance, Bajaj Finance, Bharat Electronics, Eicher Motors and Hindustan Unilever were also among top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

On the flip side, Trent, ONGC, NTPC, Cipla, JSW Steel, Power Grid, Bharti Airtel, Coal India and Sun Pharma were top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,532 shares were advancing while 1,347 were declining on the NSE.