NIFTY50 and SENSEX decline, mark the worst session since June 4

Indian equity markets opened on a positive note, with new high levels on NIFTY50 and SENSEX. But profit booking emerged within no time, and as the day progressed, indices took a nosedive, hitting intraday lows. However, recovery towards the closing session helped indices trim some losses from the day’s low. Still, both frontline indices closed nearly 0.5% lower for the day. This decline marks the worst session for the equity benchmark indices since June 4.

The recovery in the latter part of the trading session can be credited to the cooling off of the India VIX and the positive performance of Dow Jones futures.

Top Gainers & Losers

Index Movers

Coming to the NIFTY50 index pullers and draggers, Asian Paints (+9.69 pts), Bharti Airtel (+5.69 pts), NTPC (+4.94 pts), Power Grid (+3.97 pts), and Grasim (+3.19 pts) were the pullers of the day. Draggers included M&M (-42.92 pts), TCS (-16.16 pts), HDFC Bank (-13.29 pts), Reliance (-12.67 pts), and ICICI Bank (-9.95 pts).

Broader indices

Today, the broader market ended the day in red. Nifty Midcap 100 declined by 0.27%, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed down by 0.88%. Market breadth remained weak on Wednesday as the declining stocks outnumbered the advancing stocks.

Sectoral Indices

Among sectors, most of the indices closed in red. The top three sectoral gainers were NIFTY Pharma (+0.39%), Nifty Healthcare (+0.38%), and Nifty FMCG (+0.28%). The top three laggards included Nifty Auto (-2.02%), Nifty Media (-1.76%) and Nifty Metal (-1.61%).

Global Markets

Most Asian markets concluded the trading session on a mixed note. The Nikkei 225 gained by 0.50%, the Shanghai index declined by 0.68%, and the Kospi closed flat by 0.02%.

At 3:59 PM, the Dow Jones Futures were trading up by 6 points at 39,602.