Sensex Falls Over 100 Points, Nifty Trades Below 18,050

The Indian equity benchmarks traded lower in opening deals on Tuesday. Asian stocks were mixed as Japan's Nikkei index fell 0.10 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI edged 0.02 per cent lower, while the Shanghai Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 0.94 per cent and 2.10 per cent, respectively. Overnight, stocks on global indexes rose, with the Nasdaq leading gains on Wall Street.

Back home, the 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 133 points or 0.22 per cent to 60,479, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 23 points or 0.13 per cent down to 18,030.

However, mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a positive note as Nifty Midcap 100 moved 0.34 up and small-cap shares rose 0.59 per cent.

Seven out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- were trading in the red. Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services were underperforming the index by falling as much as 0.62 per cent and 0.79 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Bajaj Finance was the top Nifty loser as the stock cracked 1.50 per cent to Rs 7,377.95. HDFC twins (HDFC and HDFC Bank), HDFC Life and Kotak Mahindra Bank were also among the laggards.

Shares of HDFC twins fell nearly 1 per cent each after rising around 10 per cent in the previous session on the merger plans.

The overall market breadth stood strong as 1,388 shares were advancing while 253 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, Bajaj Finance, HDFC twins, Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Bank, IndusInd Bank and Bharti Airtel were among the top losers.

In contrast, M&M, Maruti, Sun Pharma, TCS, Dr Reddy's, PowerGrid and Titan were trading in the green.

Sensex had zoomed 1,335 points or 2.25 per cent to close at 60,612 on Monday, while Nifty had moved 383 points or 2.17 per cent higher to settle at 18,053.