SENSEX drops over 750 points, NIFTY50 ends below 23,150 on weak global cues

The Indian equity benchmarks ended sharply lower on Tuesday, September 15, as investor sentiment took a knock tracking a surge in US bond yields and rising crude prices in global markets.

The SENSEX dropped 778 points to close at the day's lowest level of 74,004 and NIFTY50 index fell 280 points to close at an intraday low of 23,119 dragged down by losses in index heavyweights like ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, Bharat Electronics, Mahindra & Mahindra, Axis Bank and Larsen & Toubro.

Odds for a rate hike jumped to 93.5%, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tracker of fed funds futures prices.

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis launched a new attack on Saudi Arabia, and Gulf Arab states postponed planned talks with Iran, underscoring fears that the Middle East conflict could spread further ⁠and threaten global oil supplies, the report added.

Back home, selling pressure was visible across sectors. Recently outperforming defence shares witnessed very intense selling pressure as the measure, NIFTY India Defence index plunged 6% on account of profit booking. Solar Industries was top loser in the index; the stock fell 14% to close at ₹19,250. Data Patterns, Apollo Microssystems, Bharat Electronics and Paras Defence also dropped between 5% and 9%.

All the 15 major sector gauges barring the measure of IT shares, ended lower led by the NIFTY Realty index's 4.04% fall. NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, Auto, Media, Metal, Pharma, PSU Bank, Healthcare and Consumer Durables indices also fell between 1.3% and 2.5%.

On the other hand, IT stocks witnessed buying interest after the head of AI company Anthropic has called for the pace of development of artificial intelligence (AI) models to slow down and to be closely monitored.

Dario Amodei wrote in an online essay that developing AI was not in question, but that the risks associated with it were "serious" and that companies and governments must be given time to address them.

The bosses of two rival AI firms, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk, have both said they agree with Amodei.

Tata Group shares came under buying interest on expectations of value unlocking after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rejected Tata Sons' application to ‌de-register as a non-banking finance company (NBFC), reviving prospects of a stock market listing for the holding firm.

Bharat Electronics was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 5.3% to close at ₹383. Shriram Finance, Adani Enterprises, InterGlobe Aviation, Grasim Industries, Titan, Bajaj Finserv, Adani Ports, JSW Steel and Asian Paints also fell between 2.8% and 4.74%.

On the flip side, HCL Tech, Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, ONGC, HDFC Bank and Tata Motors PV were notable gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative as 2,824 shares ended lower while 754 closed higher on the NSE.