New Delhi, India (BBN)-India Benchmark share indices witnessed a sharp sell-off across the board amid persistent selling by foreign funds amid continued concerns over retrospective taxation while tax on subsidies coupled with the geo-political tensions in the Middle-East also dampened sentiment.
The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended down 725 points at 26,715 and the 50-share Nifty closed 234 points lower at 8,091, reports Business Standard.
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The benchmark indices continue to reel under selling pressure in noon trades due to weakness in heavyweights such as BHEL, ICICI Bank and L&T.
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The Sensex was at 26,793, lower by 646 points and the Nifty was at 8,120, down 120 points.
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Benchmark indices remain in a state of free fall with financials, capital goods, FMCG and IT stocks hurting the most amid weak global cues while anxieties of foreign institutional investors over the retrospective taxation issue have also weighed.
On the domestic front, absence of any concrete movement towards the passage of reform-centric legislative proposals in the on-going budget session of the Parliament, weak corporate earnings in the fourth quarter and a general lack of positive cues has kept traders risk-averse.
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The 30-share Sensex was down 630 points at 26,810 and the 50-share Nifty was down 204 points at 8,120.
In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices, down 2.85% and 3% each have declined significantly in-line with the front-liners.
Market breadth in BSE is negative with 2,014 declines against 415 advances.
BUZZING STOCKS
All the 12 sectoral indices of BSE are trading lower. BSE Capital Goods and Power indices down 3.8 % and 3.6% each are the biggest losers followed by BSE Metal index and Bankex, down nearly 3% each.
Bharti Airtel is the sole gainer in noon trades. Bharti Airtel has gained over 1% in an otherwise subdued market on the buzz that Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Global Standard Indexes increased the weightage of the company in the MSCI India Index to 2.6 per cent from 1.3 per cent, effective June 1, 2015.
Losses in financials are weighing heavily on the indices. ICICI Bank is down 3.5%, HDFC is down nearly 2%, Axis Bank is down 3.6% and HDFC Bank is down 1.4%.
Capital Goods majors like L&T and BHEL have shed between 4% and 5% each.
BHEL has successfully commissioned the first unit of 82.5 MW at the upcoming Shrinagar Hydro Electric Project in Uttarakhand.
Overnight weakness in US markets has weighed on IT stocks. Infosys, TCS and Wipro have shed over 2% each.
Metal stocks have come off yesterday’s highs. Tata Steel, Hindalco and Vedanta have shed between 2.4% and 3% each.
FMCG majors, ITC and HUL have lost nearly 3% each.