Market Wrap, December 18: SENSEX, NIFTY50 slide 0.6% amid across-the-board sell-off; Fed decision eyed

Jitters ahead of the Fed rate decision, due later today, were one of the major factors behind market participants selling the stocks intensely. Besides, continuous foreign fund outflows, too, weighed on the sentiment.

With today's fall, the benchmarks have lost over 2% so far this week, with foreign outflows prompting the NIFTY50 to close below its 50-day moving average for the second straight session, according to a Reuters report. 

At close, the S&P BSE SENSEX stood at 80,182.20, down 502.25 points, or 0.62%, while the NSE's NIFTY50 index ended at 24,198.85, down 137.15 points, or 0.56%. 

Top gainers and losers

As many as 33 stocks out of 50 constituents of the NIFTY50 index ended in the red and the remaining 17 in the green. 

The top five gainers of the index were Trent Ltd, Dr Reddy's, Cipla, Wipro, and RIL.

The top five losers were Tata Motors, Power Grid, BEL, NTPC, and JSW Steel. 

On the SENSEX, 22 stocks settled lower while eight were in the green. 

RIL (0.64%) was the top gainer on the SENSEX, while Tata Motors (down 3%) was the biggest loser.

Market Statistics

As many as 4,099 stocks traded on the BSE, out of which 2,563 declined and 1,442 advanced, while 94 scrips remained unchanged. 

A total of 246 stocks hit their 52-week high while 38 stocks touched their 52-week lows. 

Further, nine stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 2 hit their lower circuit bands.

Buzzing Stocks

Shares of NMDC nosedived over 6% to ₹213.65 apiece on the BSE on reports that the Karnataka state government was looking to increase the duty on iron ore mining.

Karnataka is an important state for NMDC as it contributes to nearly 35% of the overall mix for the company, the report said.

Va Tech Wabag shares nosedived as much as 19.17% to ₹1,522.30 apiece on the BSE after the company informed exchanges on Tuesday that its order from the Saudi Water Authority worth ₹2,700 crore, which it informed about in September, stands cancelled.

The company's filing read, "With reference to our above intimation dated September 06, 2024, relating to the 300 MLD Mega Sea Water Desalination Plant Order in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we hereby inform you that the customer has notified all tender participants on December 16, 2024, that the said tender stands cancelled pursuant to their internal administrative procedures. We are currently in touch with the customer to understand and comprehend the reasons in detail."

Broader Market

The BSE SmallCap index ended at 56,496.71, down 432 points, or 0.76%, while the BSE MidCap index ended at 47,524.06, down 292 points, or 0.61%. 

Sector Watch

Barring technology stocks, all other sectoral indices ended in the red. The S&P BSE IT index ended flat with a positive bias. 

Utility stocks slipped the most, followed by power. 

The BSE Utilities index ended at 5,598.83, down 2.06%.