The Indian equity benchmarks extended losses in afternoon trading and were set to close lower for third straight session dragged by losses in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, Infosys, HDFC, Tata Consultancy Services and HDFC Bank. The Sensex fell as much as 945 points and Nifty 50 index dropped below its important psychological level of 17,700.
The Sensex was down 780 points at 59,318 and Nifty 50 index dropped 224 points or 1.25 per cent to 17,714 by 2;14 pm.
Selling pressure was broad-based as thirteen of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Information technology index's nearly 2 per cent fall. Nifty Pharma, Financial Services, Private Bank, Healthcare, Oil & Gas, Pharma and Bank indices decline over 1 per cent.
On the other hand, select metal and real estate shares were witnessing buying interest.
Mid- and small-cap shares were facing a mild selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index declined 0.43 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 100 index was trading on a flat note.
Among the individual shares, Ceat dropped as much as 7.25 per cent to hit fresh 52-week low of Rs 1,051 as it came under heavy selling pressure on Thursday after it reported loss of Rs 20 crore for the December 2021 quarter.
Ceat reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 20 crore for the December 2021 quarter, due to muted demand. The company had posted profit of Rs 132 crore in the third quarter of 2020-21.
Bajaj FInserv was top Nifty loser, the stock fell nearly 5 per cent to Rs 17,220 despite its profit rising manifold to Rs 168 crore in December quarter. Bajaj Auto, Divi's Labs, HDFC, Infosys, Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, IndusInd Bank, TCS, Dr Reddy's Labs, ONGC and Larsen & Toubro also fell between 1.4-3.6 per cent.
On the flipside, Power Grid, Coal India, Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel, Grasim Industries, Tata Consumer Products and Hero MotoCorp were among the gainers.
