Share Market News Live: Sensex falls over 250 points, Nifty tests 18,600; Hindalco, HCL Tech, Infosys top drags

Share Market Updates Today: Indian equity benchmarks started on a lower note today amid weak global cues. Asian markets were mostly down in early deals as South Korea's Kospi fell 0.47 per cent, China's Shanghai Composite moved 0.40 per cent down and and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slipped 1.13 per cent. Japan's Nikkei, however, edged 0.13 per cent higher. Overnight, US stocks settled on a lower note. All three major US stock indexes plunged sharply. US services industry activity unexpectedly picked up in November, with employment rebounding, signaling momentum in the world's largest economy and sparking concerns that the Federal Reserve could tighten policy further to tackle inflation. Indian stock markets would now be focused on RBI's monetary policy decision. The Reserve Bank of India is expected to raise interest rates by a smaller 35 basis points to 6.25 per cent. Back home, foreign institutional investors sold a net of Rs 1,139.07 crore equities on Monday, while domestic investors purchased Rs 2,607.98 crore worth of shares, as per provisional NSE data.

Here are the share market Live Updates:

Mid & small cap indexes

Mid- and small-cap shares were mixed as Nifty Midcap 100 fell 0.20 per cent and small-cap edged 0.06 per cent higher, respectively.

Top gainers and losers on NSE

Hindalco, HCL Tech, Infosys, Tata Steel and ONGC were among the top lggards on the NSE platform today with their shares down as much as 1.75 per cent. In contrast, SBI Life, HDFC Life, Adani Ent, Coal India and IndusInd Bank were among the top gainers.

Share market opening

Sensex falls 277 points or 0.44 per cent to trade at 62,558, Nifty moves 92 points or 0.49 per cent down to trade at 18,609

Rupee vs dollar view - Amit Pabari, MD, CR Forex Advisors

The rupee-dollar pair is likely to move towards 81.50 levels in the coming sessions. For now, we expect the pair to continue to trade in a range of 81.00-82.20 levels, and until then, sell on upticks shall remain a viable strategy for exporters.

Stocks to watch

Adani Enterprises, NDTV: Adani closed its open offer to buy a 26 per cent stake in NDTV, becoming its biggest shareholder.

Kalpataru Power Transmission: The company would consider raising funds through issuing non-convertible debentures.

Bajaj Consumer: The company would consider a share buyback proposal on December 9.

IRB Infrastructure Developers: The company's November toll collection increased about 39 per cent on a yearly basis.

Oil prices rise

Brent crude futures rose 74 cents, or 0.90 per cent, to $83.42 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures moved 69 cents, or 0.90 per cent higher, to $77.62.

US stocks

Dow Jones fell 1.40 per cent to settle at 33,947.10. S&P 500 index slipped 1.79 per cent to end the session at 3,998.84. Nasdaq moved 1.93 per cent lower to close at 11,239.94.

Stocks in F&O ban

Delta Corp, GNFC and Indiabulls Housing Finance are in F&O (Futures and Options) ban period today. Stocks are placed under F&O ban when the derivative contracts in their securities cross 95 per cent of the market-wide position limit.

FII-DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold Rs 1,139.07 crore worth of shares, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased Rs 2,607.98 crore worth of shares on December 5, provisional NSE data showed.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicated a lower opening for the domestic markets. The Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange also known as the SGX Nifty Futures fell 64 points or 0.34 per cent to trade at 18,746.

Previous session

The benchmark BSE Sensex had slipped 34 points or 0.05 per cent to close at 62,835 on Monday, while the broader NSE Nifty had settled 5 points or 0.03 per cent higher at 18,701.