SENSEX plunges over 900 points, NIFTY50 below 24,050 dragged by banking stocks

The Indian equity benchmarks extended losses in late morning deals on Wednesday, March 11, dragged down by losses in private sector banking shares.

The SENSEX fell as much as 914 points at the day's lowest level and NIFTY50 index briefly dropped below its important psychological level of 24,050 to touch an intraday low of 24,022 led by losses in heavyweights like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries and Mahindra & Mahindra.

As of 11:24 am, the SENSEX was down 908 points at 77,299 and NIFTY50 index declined 243 points to 24,018.

Banking and financial services shares were seen exerting pressure on the benchmarks as NIFTY Bank index dropped as much as 1.12% or 639 points to hit an intraday low of 56,312. NIFTY Financial Services, Auto, Private Bank and PSU Bank indices also fell between 0.4% and 1.2%.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries, which was the top gainer in the NIFTY50 index in opening deals, also gave up intraday gains and fell as much as 2.71% from the day's highest level to hit an intraday low of ₹1,395.10.

Losses in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra and Reliance Industries collectively wiped out over 500 points from the SENSEX, data from BSE showed.

Meanwhile, buying interest was seen in oil & gas, metal, pharma, real estate and consumer durable shares.

Broader markets were outperforming their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index was up 0.1% while NIFTY Smallcap 100 index climbed 0.7%.

Among the individual shares, kitchen appliance companies such as Stove Kraft, Butterfly Gandhimathi, and TTK Prestige were trading with significant gains amid disruptions to imported gas supplies caused by the widening West Asia conflict.

Hit hard by the shortage of commercial LPG cylinders, the hoteliers' body, FHRAI, on Tuesday said a large number of hotels and eateries in Mumbai will have to shut operations in the next two days if the situation is not resolved.

Shares of pipe, pumps, and EPC firms were trading with impressive gains after the Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the extension of the Jal Jeevan Mission up to December 2028 with an enhanced outlay of ₹8.7 lakh crore, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

Shakti Pumps shares rallied over 16% to hit a high of ₹571.30 apiece on the NSE, while VA Tech Wabag stock rallied over 9% to ₹1,309 on the NSE.

KSB Limited was trading over 2% higher at ₹777 on the NSE.

Among pipe names, Astral was trading over 2% higher, while Supreme Industries was trading 1.67% higher at ₹4,000 on the NSE. Finolex Industries was also trading over 1% higher.

In the primary market, Sedemac Mechatronics opened for trading at ₹1,535, marking a premium of 3.54% over the issue price of ₹1,352 per share.

Bajaj Finance was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 2.63% to ₹915. Mahindra & Mahindra, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, Eicher Motors, Tata Consumer Products and Tata Motors PV also fell between 1.5% and 2.6%.

On the other hand, Jio Financial Services, Sun Pharma, Adani Ports, NTPC, Coal India and IndiGo were top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,784 shares were advancing while 1,180 were declining on the NSE.