Sensex falls 400 points; IT, pharma stocks slump

The Indian equities markets key indices slumped on Wednesday due to heavy selling in IT, pharma and banking stocks. The benchmark Sensex slumped 400 points and Nifty 50 dropped 80 points.

The 30-stock S&P BSE Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange opened in the positive at 58,122 points and rose to 58,218.25 points in the early trade. However, the positive trend did not last long and the Sensex slipped into the red only a few minutes after the market opening. The Sensex slumped to a low of 57,671.61 points.

At around 11.10 am the benchmark Sensex was trading at 57,774.71 points, 0.59 per cent or 342.38 points lower than the previous day's close at 58,117.09 points.

The broader Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was trading 0.58 per cent down at 17,223.75 points from the previous day close at 17,324.90 points. The Nifty 50 also briefly traded in the positive and touched a high of 17,351.20 points.

There was heavy selling pressure in IT and pharma stocks. TCS fell 1.37 per cent to Rs.3570.50; Infosys fell 1.45 per cent to Rs.1726.75; HCL Technology down 1.19 per cent at Rs.1147.95 and Tech Mahindra fell 0.98 per cent to Rs.1627.05. Other major Sensex losers include: Bajaj Finance 2.40 per cent lower at Rs.6898.85; Bajaj Finserv 1.77 per cent lower at Rs.16825.30 and ITC 1.10 per cent lower at Rs.225.80.

Only 8 of the 30 stocks that are part of Sensex were trading in the positive. Kotak Bank 1.21 per cent higher at Rs.1862.65; NTPC 1.19 per cent higher at Rs.127.55; Axis Bank 0.96 per cent higher at Rs.717.55 and Mahindra & Mahindra 0.92 per cent higher at Rs.842.45 were among the major Sensex gainers.

( With inputs from ANI )

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