Heavy offloading in RIL pulls Nifty below 22k

Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex tanked more than one per cent, while Nifty declined below the 22,000 level on Wednesday due to selling in index heavyweight Reliance Industries and bank stocks amid weak global market trends.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 790.34 points or 1.08 per cent to settle at 72,304.88 with 26 of its constituents ending in the red and four in the green. During the day, it tanked 872.93 points or 1.19 per cent to a low of 72,222.29 points. The Nifty slumped 247.20 points or 1.11 per cent to settle at 21,951.15 points. As many as 46 Nifty shares closed with losses, while four advanced.

“Indian markets were jittery mirroring weak global markets. Global investors are awaiting the key US economic data like personal consumption expenditure, in anticipation of good forecast there is a fear that Fed rate cut maybe delayed. Turmoil in China's property sector further impacted the Asian market trend,” said Vinod Nair, head (research), Geojit Financial Services.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge declined by 1.94 per cent and midcap index went lower by 1.82 per cent. All the indices ended lower. Utilities fell by 2.82 per cent, oil & gas declined 2.19 per cent, realty tanked 2.12 per cent, telecommunication dipped 1.92 per cent, services (1.89 per cent) and commodities (1.85 per cent). A total of 2,963 stocks declined while 881 advanced and 77 remained unchanged.

Among the Sensex firms, Power Grid fell the most by 4.43 per cent due to profit booking by investors. Reliance Industries dropped around 2 per cent, contributing 185.59 points to the slide. IndusInd Bank, Maruti, Wipro, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Asian Paints, Mahindra & Mahindra and UltraTech Cement were the biggest laggards. Hindustan Unilever, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services and Bharti Airtel were the gainers. Shares of debt-laden Vodafone Idea plummeted around 14 per cent after the fundraising announcement by the company failed to lift investors' sentiment. Shares of One97 Communications Ltd, the owner of the Paytm brand, fell 5 per cent to hit a lower circuit limit. In Asian markets, Seoul settled with gains while Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended lower. European markets were trading mostly lower.

Investors poorer by Rs 6 lakh cr

Investors’ wealth eroded by Rs6 lakh crore in a single day on Wednesday as the BSE benchmark Sensex tumbled over 790 points. The market capitalisation (mcap) of BSE-listed companies eroded by Rs6,02,338.56 crore to Rs3,85,97,298.49 crore ($4.71 trn).