The S&P BSE Senses and NSE Nifty 50 indexes were on track to break their 10-day winning streak on Thursday as investors booked profits in information technology, banking and pharma shares. The benchmarks opened lower and extended losses in afternoon trading dragged down by weakness in heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. The Sensex fell as much as 576 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 11,828.
As of 1:43 pm, the Sensex was down 541 points or 1.33 per cent at 40,253 and Nifty fell 1.18 per cent or 142 points to 11,829.
Investors booked profits after ten-day winning streak wherein the Sensex and Nifty rallied 7 per cent each, analysts said. Weekly expiry of index future and option contracts also added to the volatility in today's session, they added.
Nine of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty IT index's 3 per cent decline. Nifty Bank, Private Bank, Pharma, Financial Services and PSU Bank indexes also fell over a per cent each.
On the other hand, metal and select auto stocks were witnessing buying interest.
Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indexes fell 0.5 per cent each.
HCL Technologies was top loser in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock fell nearly 4 per cent to Rs 857 a day ahead of its September quarter earnings. Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, TCS, Bajaj Finserv, Wipro, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank and Divis Labs also fell between 1.5-3.5 per cent.
On the flipside, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, Hindalco, JSW Steel, UPL and Asian Paints were among the gainers.
The overall market breadth was negative as 1,497 shares were declining while 991 were advancing on the BSE.
