Sensex Falls Over 150 Points, Nifty Near 12,300 In Early Trade; Wipro Shares Drop 3%

1. At 9:42 am, the Sensex traded 161.97 points - or 0.39 per cent - lower at 41,790.66 while the Nifty was down 53.90 points - or 0.44 per cent - at 12,308.40. 
2. Thirty five stocks on the 50-scrip index moved lower at the time. Top percentage losers were IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, Wipro, Tata Steel and SBI, down between 1.30 per cent and 3.96 per cent. 
3. On the other hand, Titan, Bharti Infratel, Hero MotoCorp, Tech Mahindra and Sun Pharma, up between 0.29 per cent and 1.31 per cent, were the top Nifty gainers. 
4. IndusInd Bank, Infosys and HDFC were the top drags on the Sensex, together accounting for a fall of more than 80 points in the index. 
5. Wipro shares fell more than 3 per cent in morning deals, a day after the IT major reported its earnings for the third quarter of current financial year. Its net profit came in at Rs 2,455.9 crore for the quarter ended December 31, down 3.79 per cent compared with the previous quarter. On the BSE, Wipro shares fell as much as 3.48 per cent to Rs 248.20 apiece.
6. Equities in other Asian markets were steady in early trade, with sentiment somewhat dented by comments from the US Treasury Secretary that tariffs would remain in place for now. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.13 per cent, Japan's benchmark Nikkei shed 0.29 per cent.
7. Overnight, US stocks dipped, reversing earlier intraday record highs, after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the US would keep in place tariffs on Chinese goods until the completion of a second phase of a trade agreement with China.
8. The news came hours before the signing of a preliminary trade agreement to ease an 18-month-old trade war between the world's two largest economies.
9. The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty benchmark indices had registered new record closing highs on Tuesday. The Sensex ended 92.94 points - or 0.22 per cent - higher at 41,952.63 and the Nifty settled at 12,362.30, up 32.75 points - or 0.27 per cent - from the previous close. 
10. Foreign institutional investors pulled out a net Rs 205.56 crore from Indian markets, and domestic institutional investors Rs 642.47 crore, on Tuesday, according to provisional data from the NSE. 

Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.