SENSEX falls over 700 points, NIFTY50 trades below 22,600; RIL, HUL hit fresh 52-week lows

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a gap down opening and extended losses on Tuesday, September 29, as rising bond yields and crude prices continue to remain pain points for investors.

The SENSEX dropped as much as 708 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 22,569 dragged down by losses in index heavyweights like HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank and Infosys.

As of 9:23 am, the SENSEX was down 387 points at 72,385 and NIFTY50 index dropped 110 points to 22,670.

Asian markets were trading lower taking cues from weak closing of American markets after yield on the 10-year bond in United States surged as much as 11 basis points to 5.27%, its highest level in 19 years.

Japan's Nikkei declined 1.1%, China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.32%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.64% and South Korea's KOSPI index 0.5%.

Overnight, US stocks ended sharply lower as rising bond yields and surging oil prices revived inflation fears and bets on further rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve.

Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.7%, S&P 500 index 0.77% and tech heavy Nasdaq index tumbled 0.92%.

Back home, index heavyweights like Reliance Industries and Hindustan Unilever touched their fresh 52-week low in the NIFTY50 index.

Selling pressure was broad-based as 13 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading lower led by the NIFTY Media index's 1.95% fall. NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, Auto, FMCG, IT, Metal, PSU Bank, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas indices also fell between 0.6% and 1%.

On the other hand, shares in defensive sectors like pharma and healthcare were witnessing buying interest.

Broader markets were also facing selling pressure as NIFTY Midcap 100 index dropped 0.76% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index tumbled 0.9%.

Among the individual shares, NCC climbed as much as 5.37% to an intraday low of ₹137.30, in an otherwise weak market, after the company informed exchanges that it secured an order worth ₹1,077 crore from Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Department, Visakhapatnam, Government of Andhra Pradesh for providing drinking water supply under Multi Village Scheme on Yeleru Reservoir for Anakapalli Segment in Anakapalli District, Andhra Pradesh.

Tata Motors PV was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 2.8% to ₹274. HDFC Life, Bajaj Finance, Jio Financial Services, HDFC Bank, Asian Paints, Wipro, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, JSW Steel and Trent also fell between 1.15% and 2%.

On the flip side, Dr Reddy's Labs, Cipla, Sun Pharma, Adani Ports and Eicher Motors were notable gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative as 2,218 shares were declining while 782 were advancing on the NSE.