Sensex Sheds 179 Points, Nifty Closes Below 10,600; Tech Mahindra Falls Over 7%

Sensex and Nifty tracked Asian stocks as they slumped to nine-month lows.

Domestic stock market indices closed Thursday's session on lower notes. The S&P BSE Sensex tanked 179.47 points, or 0.51 per cent, to close at 35,037.64. The NSE's Nifty50 index skidded 82.30 points or 0.77 per cent and settled at 10,589.10, below the crucial 10,600 mark. Domestic equity indices plunged today as escalating trade war concerns continued to pressure global stocks. The drop came ahead of the expiry of derivatives contracts. The Indian rupee slipped to a record low level against the US dollar, following further spike in oil prices and concerns of the country's widening fiscal deficit.

Major gainers in the Sensex pack were NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC Bank, rising between 1.01 per cent to 1.81 per cent. Top laggards on the BSE index were Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Yes Bank, Bajaj Auto and Coal India, ending with losses between 1.82 per cent to 2.78 per cent.

Infosys, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and Hindalco (rising between 1.42 per cent to 1.76 per cent) were leading the pack of Nifty gainers, while main losers on the index were Tech Mahindra, Indiabulls Finance, Hindustan Petroleum, Titan and BPCL, ending with losses between 3.68 per cent to 7.04 per cent.

Asian stocks on Thursday slumped to nine-month lows. Worries over mounting global trade war fears kept markets across Asia jittery with the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan trading 0.7 per cent lower. The Indian rupee for the first time breached the 69 per dollar mark, tracking Asian peers hurt by weakening macro-economic fundamentals.

State-run lenders continued to be under heavy selling pressure as the Nifty PSU Bank index lost 1.92 per cent, thus closing in the red for the fourth straight session.

Indian Bank dropped as much as 4.3 per cent after it withdrew dividend payment plan of Rs 6 per share.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd hit a three-week low following a report that the market regulator was seeking answers from the private lender for concealment of a dispute with Religare Finvest, a unit of Religare Enterprises Ltd.

Meanwhile, Varroc Engineering IPO which opened on Tuesday was subscribed 3.32 times by 4:01 pm on Thursday, the third day of the IPO, data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed. Total bids received stood at 4,56,34,215 out of the total issue size of 1,41,85,212. (With Agencies inputs)