SENSEX plunges over 500 points, NIFTY50 below 22,400; Infosys falls after cutting revenue guidance

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a gap-down opening on Monday, October 26, as sentiment remained weak tracking a decline in Asian markets as geopolitical tensions in West Asia remained elevated over the weekend.

The SENSEX fell as much as 574 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 22,397 dragged down by selling pressure in IT heavyweight Infosys after it slashed the revenue growth guidance for the current financial year.

ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, Hindustan Unilever and Bharti Airtel were also seen exerting pressure on the benchmarks.

As of 9:24 am, the SENSEX was down 489 points at 72,635 and NIFTY50 index dropped 186 points to 22,413.

Asian shares were trading on a subdued note as investors awaited monetary decisions from major central banks due later this week and an array of corporate earnings.

Japan's Nikkei fell 0.61%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.51%, South Korea's KOSPI dropped 1.24% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slipped 0.06%.

Brent crude futures hovered around $110 per barrel amid ongoing attacks on Saudi Arabia kept supply concerns in focus.

Attacks continued over the ‌weekend ⁠with Houthis saying they had attacked the Saudi airport and oil facilities on Saturday. Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it had ⁠intercepted more missiles and drones.

The top oil exporter restarted partial operations at its main airport on ⁠Sunday after damage in a previous round of Houthi attacks even as ⁠the militant group vowed to keep targeting the facility, the report added.

Back home, selling pressure was broad-based as all the major sector gauges, barring the measure of pharma stocks, were trading lower led by the NIFTY FMCG index's 1.35% fall. NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, IT, Auto, PSU Bank, Realty and Consumer Durables indices also fell between 0.6% and 1.05%.

Broader markets were also facing selling pressure as NIFTY Midcap 100 index dropped 0.84% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index declined 1.26%.

Among the individual shares, Bharat Coking Coal advanced as much as 6.55% to an intraday high of ₹31.73 after the company returned to profit in September quarter from loss during the same period last year.

The company reported a net profit of ₹124 crore compared with a loss of ₹53 crore in the year-ago period.

Shriram Finance was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell nearly 5% to ₹823 after it cut is assets under management (AUM) growth guidance to 15-17% from its earlier estimate of 18%.

Tata Consumer Products, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Life, Eicher Motors, Infosys, Tata Motors PV, Bharat Electronics and State Bank of India also fell between 1.45% and 3.74%.

On the flip side, Dr Reddy's Labs jumped 2.8% to ₹1,264 after its net profit rose 11% to ₹925 crore in the second quarter of current financial year.

BSE, Kotak Mahindra Bank, JSW Steel, Adani Ports and Coal India were notable gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was negative as 2,033 shares were falling while 1,077 were gaining on the NSE.