Sensex falls over 500 points on profit-booking, Nifty remains below 17,050
Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty fell nearly 1 per cent on Wednesday on profit-booking in financial and IT stocks after the recent rally.
The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 537.22 points or 0.94 per cent lower at 56,819.39. During the day, it closed at 56,584.04, down 772.57 points or 1.34 per cent. The NSE Nifty closed at 17,038.40, down 162.40 points or 0.94 per cent.
Major losers were Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank, Titan, Dr Reddy’s, Wipro, State Bank of India, Infosys, Maruti and UltraTech Cement in the 30-share Sensex pack. In contrast, Tata Steel, Asian Paints, HCL Technologies, TCS, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank were among the gainers.
Asian markets were mixed, with Tokyo and Seoul falling 1 per cent, while Hong Kong and Shanghai gained. European markets were trading in the green in the afternoon session. Shares in the US closed down significantly on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the Sensex closed at 57,356.61 with a gain of 776.72 points, or 1.37 per cent. The Nifty closed at 17,200.80, up 246.85 points or 1.46 per cent.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.89 per cent to $105.81 per barrel. Foreign institutional investors continued selling shares worth Rs 1,174.05 crore on Tuesday, according to stock exchange data.