Nifty, Sensex Fall Most In Over Three Weeks, Infosys Top Dragger: Market Wrap

The NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex ended at the lowest level since Nov. 22 as Infosys Ltd. and HDFC Bank Ltd.'s share prices dragged. The Indian benchmarks also witnessed steepest intraday fall in over last three weeks.

The Nifty 50 ended 360.75 points, or 1.49% down at 23,914.15, and the Sensex ended 1,190.34 points or 1.48% lower at 79,043.74.

Moreover sharp losses in technology stocks also pressured the Indian benchmarks. India's technology stocks were trading in red because mixed data from the US created uncertainty over the Federal Reserve's monetary policy going forward.

The Nifty 50 declined as much as 1.65% to 23,873.35, the lowest level since Nov. 4. The Sensex declined 1.64% to 78,918.92.

Broad weakness across Asia–Pacific markets also weighed on the Indian benchmark indices.

HDFC Bank Ltd.'s share price rose 1.31% to a record high of Rs 1,836.10 apiece within one hour of Thursday's session. The recent uptick in the stock comes as the bank continues to make strides in both its financial performance and customer outreach.

"Ultimately, the range of 24,140-24,350 is breached but unfortunately on the lower side. After a sudden fall in the opening trade, there was no sign of any reversal and the index kept on compounding its losses and filled the bullish gap zone to end the session at 23,914.15, with a loss of 360.75 points," said Aditya Gaggar, director, Progressive Share Brokers Pvt.

Barring PSU Banks, Media, and Realty all the other sectors settled the trade in red, with IT and Auto being the major underperformers. Today's fall was limited to the index stocks, which resulted in an outperformance by the mid and smallcaps segments, he said.

On the daily timeframe, Nifty 50 has formed a bearish candle but it appears that it is forming a right shoulder of an Inverted Head and Shoulder pattern and a strong close above 24,350 will confirm the pattern breakout. For now, the immediate resistance and support are at 24,140 and 23,760, Gaggar said.

Shares of Infosys Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. weighed on the Nifty 50.

While those of State Bank of India, Adani Enterprises Ltd., Shriram Finance Ltd., and Cipla Ltd. limited losses.

On NSE, nine out of 12 sectors declined, two advanced, and one remained flat. The NSE Nifty IT is the worst performing sector, and the NSE Nifty PSU Bank is the best performing sector.

Broader indices outperformed. BSE Midcap ended flat and BSE Smallcap closed 0.4% up.

Four of the 21 sectoral indices on BSE ended higher and rest fell. BSE Focused IT fell the most.

Market breadth was skewed in the favour of buyers. As many as 2,241 stocks rose, 1,702 stocks declined, and 106 remained unchanged on the BSE.