In the July series so far, Sensex and Nifty have skyrocketed 9 per cent.
The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes erased intraday gains in noon trading ahead of expiry of July future and option contracts due later today. The benchmarks staged a gap up opening tracking positive Asian markets after the US Federal Reserve left interest rates near zero to support its coronavirus-hit economy, raising hopes for accommodative monetary policies from other central banks. The Sensex fell over 400 points and Nifty 50 broke below 11,200 amid selling pressure in Bharti Airtel, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank.
As of 1:05 pm, the Sensex was down 80 points at 37,991 and Nifty was at 11,174, down 29 points.
In the July series so far, Sensex and Nifty have skyrocketed 9 per cent.
Meanwhile, seven of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty PSU Bank and Metal indexes over a per cent decline. Media, banking, energy and financial services shares were also witnessing selling pressure.
On the other hand, pharma shares were witnessing buying interest as the Nifty Pharma index rose over 2 per cent.
Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index and Nifty Smallcap 100 indexes fell over 0.5 per cent.
Bharat Petroleum was top Nifty loser, down 6 per cent at Rs 427 after the finance ministry said on Wednesday that it had extended the deadline for submission of bids for the sale of its stake in oil refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd to September 30, allowing more time for interested parties.
Indian Oil, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, Power Grid, Axis Bank, Tata Steel, GAIL India, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Finserv and State Bank of India were also among the losers.
On the flipside, Reliance Industries was trading 0.4 per cent higher ahead of its June quarter earnings due later in the day.
Maruti Suzuki, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Kotak Mahindra Bank, TCS and Infosys were among the gainers.
The overall market breadth was negative as 1,353 shares were declining while 1,101 were trading higher on the BSE.
