SENSEX falls 200 points, NIFTY50 below 23,000; IT stocks outperform, financials fall

The Indian equity benchmarks edged lower on Friday, October 16, as investors turned to profit booking after a sharp surge in the previous session.

The SENSEX fell as much as 411 points from the day's highest level while the NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 22,953 after hitting a high of 23,077 dragged down by losses in Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, State Bank of India, ITC, Hindustan Unilever and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

However, the downside was capped owing to buying interest in Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Bharti Airtel and HDFC Bank.

As of 9:25 am, the SENSEX was down 83 points at 74,232 and NIFTY50 index declined 25 points to 22,971.

Asian markets rebounded after two days of losses as tech selloff eased owing to value buying at lower levels and easing crude prices in global markets.

Japan's Nikkei rose 1.77%, China's Shanghai Composite index 0.61%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.65% and South Korea's KOSPI climbed 3%.

Overnight, US stocks snapped their three-day losing streak as investors sifted their focus from AI stocks to Eli Lilly, UnitedHealth and other healthcare and consumer stocks.

The S&P 500 index advanced 0.33%, Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.08% and tech heavy Nasdaq index 0.08%.

Back home, 11 of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading lower led by the NIFTY Oil & Gas index's over 1% fall. NIFTY FMCG, Financial Services, Pharma, Private Bank, Realty, Bank and Healthcare indices also fell between 0.3% and 0.6%.

On the other hand, IT, media metal and PSU banking shares were witnessing buying interest.

Broader markets were trading on a mixed note as NIFTY Midcap 100 index fell 0.4% while NIFTY Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.22%.

Among the individual shares, Persistent Systems shares fell as much as 5.95% to an intraday low of ₹5,492 after its net profit fell 25% to ₹351.51 crore in the second quarter of current financial year.

Persistent Systems' revenue from operations rose 30% to ₹4,663.9 crore in Q2 FY27, up from ₹3,580.72 crore in Q2 FY26.

YES Bank fell 3.85% to an intraday low of ₹17.45 after Supreme Court on Thursday upheld an order of the Bombay High Court order which quashed a decision of the Yes Bank administrator to write off Additional Tier 1 bonds worth ₹8,415 crore in March 2020.

HDFC Life was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 2.84% to ₹534. BSE, Jio Financial Services, Tata Consumer Products, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv, Shriram Finance, Tata Motors PV and Hindustan Unilever also fell between 1% and 1.74%.

On the flip side, Tech Mahindra was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock jumped 6.53% to ₹1,757 after its net profit in second quarter of current financial year advanced 33% to ₹1,585.6 crore as strong volume growth, cost savings and rupee depreciation lifted operating profit.

The company's board recommended a 1:1 bonus issue, under which shareholders will get one bonus share for every share held, as the company marks its 40th anniversary.

The bonus shares are expected to be credited by December 15, according to a regulatory filing.

Infosys, TCS, HCL Technologies, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Eternal, JSW Steel, Hindalco and Mahindra & Mahindra were notable gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,574 shares were advancing while 1,469 were declining on the NSE.