ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank push Sensex lower; check what’s weighing on investor sentiment

Out of 30 Sensex stocks, 24 scrips were trading in the green with ONGC and State Bank of India as top index laggards

Adding to the losses from the previous session, BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 plunged nearly one per cent on Wednesday, following a heavy sell-off in US markets lead by technology stocks. At 10 AM, the 30-share Sensex was trading 267 points or 0.70 per cent down at 38,097, while the NSE’s Nifty breached 11,250 level too on the downside and was ruling at 11,235. In the overnight trade, Tesla stocks suffered their biggest daily percentage drop of 20 per cent. The broader markets underperformed the equity benchmarks today. BSE MidCap index plunged 1.33 per cent or 192 points to trade at 14,290, while the BSE SmallCap index tumbled 1.72 per cent or 248 points at 14,189. Barring Nifty Pharma, all the sectoral indices were trading in the negative territory.

AstraZeneca Pharma tanks 12%: The pharmaceutical major tumbled 12 per cent to Rs 3,650 apiece on BSE after it informed that the company has paused coronavirus vaccine trial to examine a potentially unexplained illness in a recipient.

RIL bags investment from Silver Lake in Reliance Retail: Reliance Industries Limited and Reliance Retail Ventures Limited on Wednesday morning announced that Silver Lake will invest Rs 7,500 crore into Reliance Retail. This investment valued Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of Rs 4.21 lakh crore. This investment will translate into a 1.75 per cent equity stake in the retail venture on a fully diluted basis.

Top BSE Sensex losers: Out of 30 Sensex stocks, 24 scrips were trading in the green with ONGC and State Bank of India as top index laggards. Bajaj Finserv, ITC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among other losers.

Asian Paints jumps 1.5%: Just seven stocks were trading in the positive territory on the BSE Sensex. Asian Paints shares jumped 1.46 per cent, followed by Nestle India, which was up nearly one per cent. Other gainers were L&T, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank, RIL and Bharti Airtel.

Global markets: In overnight trade on Wall Street, US stock indices ended lower for the third straight trading session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.25 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 2.78 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 4.11 per cent. Tesla Inc plunged 20 per cent after its exclusion from the S&P 500 index. Asian stock markets were trading deep in red dragged by technology stocks. Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 1.14% while the Topix index fell 1.13%.