SENSEX, NIFTY50 fall for third straight session; Market cap erodes by ₹11.55 lakh crore

The Indian equity benchmarks declined for a third straight session on Wednesday, September 30, as investor sentiment remained cautious on the back of rising bond yields in the United States and relentless selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs).

The SENSEX fell as much as 695 points from day's highest level and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 22,595 and high of 22,809 dragged down by losses in HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Eternal, Sun Pharma, Titan, Infosys and Bajaj Finance.

The SENSEX ended 49 points lower at 72,480 and NIFTY50 index fell 96 points to 22,620.

In three trading sessions, investors wealth worth ₹11.55 lakh crore has been eroded, data from BSE showed.

FIIs have sold shares worth ₹25,662 crore in September, reversing the net buying of ₹49,831 crore recorded over the previous two months, according to data from the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

The renewed selling by FIIs coincided with a sharp rise in US Treasury yields, with the 10-year bond yield climbing to 5.24%, its highest level since 2007. The surge in yields made US government bonds more attractive to global investors, prompting a shift in funds away from emerging markets such as India towards relatively safer US assets.

Six of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended lower led by the NIFTY Healthcare index's 2.57% fall. NIFTY Consumer Durables, Pharma, Metal and FMCG indices also fell between 0.5% and 1.8%.

On the other hand, banking, media, auto, realty and oil & gas shares witnessed buying interest.

Broader markets ended on a mixed note as NIFTY Midcap 100 index ended unchanged while NIFTY Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.3%.

Shares of AXISCADES Technologies, the country's leading defence and aerospace equipment maker, rose for a second straight session after prominent investor Vanaja Sundar along with marquee mutual funds purchased stake in the company via multiple block deals on Tuesday.

AXISCADES Technologies shares have surged 21% in two sessions to hit a record high of ₹2,274.10 on the NSE.

Apollo Hospitals was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 5.7% to close at ₹8,165. Max healthcare, BSE, Nestle India, Sun Pharma, Cipla, Eternal, Adani Enterprises, SBI Life, Infosys, Tata Steel and HDFC Bank also fell between 1.95% and 3.88%.

On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndiGo, ICICI Bank, Ultratech Cement, Shriram Finance, Axis Bank, Tata Motors PV, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra and Hindustan Unilever were top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,813 shares ended lower while 1,740 closed higher on the NSE.