Sensex Plunges 400 Points to 71,023; Nifty Drops Below 21,500

BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 extended fall to the third straight day led by over 3 percent fall in HDFC Bank shares after its December quarter results kept investors unhappy. The subdued global set-up and 5-week high US treasury yields further worsened investors mood on Thursday. Analysts expect further weakness in benchmark indices in the near-term, while Bank Nifty index is expected to remain rangebound.

At 9:15 am, the BSE Sensex was down 0.5 percent to 71,118 levels, while NSE Nifty 50 declined 0.6 percent to 21,427.

This comes after both Sensex and Nifty saw a major drop on Wednesday, with the stock markets crumbling after the Q3 results of HDFC Bank. Sensex dropped by over 1600 points on Wednesday, while Nifty was down nearly 500 points.Due to the disappointing quarterly results of HDFC Bank on January 16, Nifty Bank took a harsh hit on Wednesday, dropping over 2000 points in a single session. HDFC Bank was also the top loser on the stock market on January 17.Analysts and experts said that a dip in the markets was expected soon as markets had exceeded expectations over the last month. The crash in the market was reported after Sensex and Nifty touched their record high at over 73,000 and 22,000 each.