Sensex, Nifty Decline; Pharma, Banking Shares Underperform

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a gap down opening on Wednesday mirroring losses in other Asian markets. The Sensex fell nearly 300 points to hit an intraday low of 52,281.14 and Nifty 50 index fell below its important psychological level of 15,700. Asian shares stayed stuck at seven-month lows on Wednesday, as markets continued to digest a storm in Chinese equity markets, while the dollar rested with traders reluctant to place large bets ahead of the outcome of the Federal Reserve meeting.

As of 9:25 am, the Sensex was down 246 points at 52,333 and Nifty 50 index declined 81 points to 15,665.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.35% in early trading, having fallen in each of the three previous sessions as regulatory crackdowns in China roiled stocks in the technology, property and education sectors, leaving international investors bruised

Back home, selling pressure was broad-based as all the 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Bank and Pharma indexes' over 0.5 per cent fall. Nifty Financial Services, IT, PSU Bank, Private Bank and Media indices also fell over 0.3 per cent each.

Mid- and small-cap shares were also facing selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.4 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 0.1 per cent.

Tata Consumer Products was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 2 per cent to Rs 754. Dr Reddy's Labs, HDFC Bank, Wipro, Cipla, Axis Bank, Eicher Motors, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Britannia Industries, TCS, Reliance Industries and Shree Cements also fell between 0.5-2 per cent.

On the flipside, IndusInd Bank advanced nearly 2 per cent to Rs 994 after it reported a net profit of Rs 1,016 crore on a consolidated basis in the April-June quarter of the financial year 2021-22, compared to Rs 510 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, marking a growth of 99 per cent year-on-year.

Bajaj Finserv, Divi's Labs, Bharti Airtel, JSW Steel, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro, Coal India and Indian Oil were also among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,466 shares were declining while 1,189 were advancing on the BSE.