SENSEX falls over 200 points, NIFTY50 hovers around 24,050 dragged by Infosys, Reliance Industries

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a gap down opening on Monday, August 31, on the back of negative cues from global markets after crude oil moved above $90 per barrel after United States launched an attack on an Iran's island in the Strait of Hormuz.

The SENSEX fell as much as 368 points and NIFT50 index touched an intraday low of 24,038 dragged down by losses in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel and NTPC.

As of 9:24 am, the SENSEX was down 249 points at 77,015 and NIFTY50 index dropped 129 points to 24,046.

Asian markets were trading lower tracking a surge in crude prices after United States launched an attack on Iran's island in the Strait of Hormuz.

Japan's Nikkei dropped 1.56%, China's Shanghai Composite index declined 0.32%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.9% and South Korea's KOSPI plunged 1.92%.

Brent crude futures rose as much as 4.74% to $90.26 per barrel following report of attack on Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz.

Back home, selling pressure was broad based as all the major sector gauges, barring the measure of private banking shares, were trading lower led by the NIFTY Metal index's 2.4% fall. NIFTY IT, Media, PSU Bank, Realty, Healthcare, Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas, FMCG and Auto indices also fell between 0.4% and 1.6%.

Broader markets were also facing selling pressure as NIFTY Midcap 100 index declined 0.72% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index fell 0.9%.

Among the individual shares, Transformers and Rectifiers surged as much as 7.7% after the company said that it won an order for the supply of Generator Transformers for the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited’s (NPCIL) Kaiga Units 5 & 6 nuclear power project in Karnataka.

The order marks TARIL’s first order in the nuclear power sector, adding a new and strategically important segment to the Company’s growing portfolio of critical power infrastructure projects. The order has been received from Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited (MEIL).

Hindalco was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 2.64% to ₹1,010. Infosys, Adani Enterprises, Tata Steel, Shriram Finance, Wipro, JSW Steel, Bajaj Finance, Titan Asian Paints and Tata Consultancy Services also fell between 1.4% and 2.6%.

Coal India, Bajaj Auto, ONGC, Bharti Airtel and Apollo Hospitals were also among notable gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative as 2,143 shares were declining while 934 were advancing on the NSE.