Sensex, Nifty fall for second straight session; banking, IT shares top losers

Indian equity market closed lower for the second consecutive session today led by a sell-off in banking and IT stocks amid weak global trends. Sensex tumbled 566 points to end at 59,610.41. During the day, it fell 666.66 points or 1.10 per cent to 59,509.84.

Nifty declined 149.75 points or 0.83 per cent to settle at 17,807.

HDFC Bank, HDFC, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, TCS, M&M, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank were the top Sensex losers, falling up to 3.51%.

NTPC, Tata Steel, Power Grid, Bharti Airtel, Nestle and Larsen & Toubro were the top Sensex gainers rising up to 2.61% in trade today.

Share Market updates: Sensex falls 566 pts, Nifty ends below 17,850; HDFC twins top losers

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said,"The main indices are muted due to drop in HDFC group stocks after the rally, the subdued performance of IT sector in anticipation of weak results on a QoQ basis and weak global cues. The broad market has maintained its momentum due to the good performance of Mid & Small caps. We can expect volatility in the near-term ahead the RBI policy meet which is expected to hold the rates but increase inflation forecast".

Of the 30 Sensex components, 20 shares closed lower."

On the other hand, banking and IT shares were the top sectoral losers with their BSE indices falling 452 points and 513 points, respectively.

BSE midcap and small cap indices rose 103 points and 113 points, respectively.

The market breadth was positive with 2163 shares ending higher against 1250 stocks in the red. 99 shares were unchanged.

Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Head of Technical Research, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas said, "Nifty had recently formed a brief distribution near its daily upper Bollinger band and a falling trendline drawn from the October high. It had broken down from a distribution triangle as well as from a reverse rising channel on the hourly chart. Consequently, the index had a minor setback on April 6. The daily chart shows that the index is moving down to fill up the recent gap area of 17,791-17,703 post which the index can start moving up again. Thus buy on dips will be the strategy for the short term traders. On the higher side, immediate resistance is placed at 17,900."

Market cap of BSE-listed firms stood at Rs 273.57 lakh crore today.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) pumped more than Rs 374.89 crore into equities on a net basis on Tuesday amid a fall in the market, according to stock exchange data.

Meanwhile, snapping its three-day winning streak, the rupee fell 47 paise to close at 75.76 against the US dollar on Wednesday, tracking a strong American currency in the overseas market and a negative trend in domestic equities.

Forex traders said the expectations of rate hikes by the US Fed to rein in decades-high inflation are keeping the dollar index buoyant, a key headwind for the Indian rupee.