Benchmark indices extended losses on Wednesday and were trading in the red, dragged by banking and metal stocks.
The market had opened on a weak note amid bearish global cues and witnessed further selling ahead of futures and options (F&O) monthly expiry on the NSE.
Rising number of Covid-19 cases also continue to worry investors.
The Sensex which had opened at 49,786.47, had plunged 640.27 or 1.28 per cent at 49,411.17 at 1 pm, after recording an intraday high of 49,854.58. It recorded an intraday low of 49,253.36.
The Nifty 50 was at 14,627.55, down 187.20 or 1.26 per cent. It had opened at 14,712.45 and dipped further to the day’s low of 14,579.05. Earlier, Nifty 50 rose to an intraday high of 14,752.35.
Indices were dragged down by banking stocks on the back of the Supreme Court verdict on loan moratorium. However, pharma stocks remained resilient in a weak market.
Nifty Bank was down 1.94 per cent, while Nifty Private Bank had slid 1.97 per cent, and Nifty PSU Bank fallen 1.62 per cent.
Cipla, PowerGrid, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma and Divi’s Laboratories were among the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while Tata Steel, Hindalco, ONGC, GAIL and ICICI Bank were among the top laggards.
Pharma stocks remained resilient in a volatile market with Nifty Pharma up 0.89 per cent.
Likhita Chepa, Senior Research Analyst at CapitalVia Global Research, said, “The market opened on a negative note and continued its fall following the negative global markets and negative sentiments in the market. US markets closed negative yesterday as concerns over the tax hike impacted market sentiments negatively. Asian markets also traded in the negative zone as concerns over the increasing number of cases of coronavirus raised the probability of lockdown in specific zones.”
“We can expect the market to be volatile in the coming weeks as well due to lack of clarity in the market. The market can trade in the range of 14,400-14,900. Banks’ NPAs have declined at December end which will have a long-term positive impact on their earnings and positivity can be seen in the stock prices in the long term,” added Chepa.
Metal loses shine
Among the sectoral indices, all except Nifty Pharma were in the red. Metal stocks were the worst affected; the. Nifty Metal index slumped 2.59 per cent.
All broader indices were trading in the red. Nifty Midcap 50 was down 1.28, while Nifty Smallcap 50 was down 1.24 per cent.
The S&P BSE Midcap was down 0.77 per cent, while the S&P BSE Smallcap was down 0.58 per cent.
However, the volatility index, the fear gauge, was up 9 per cent at 20.59.