The Indian equity benchmarks moved sharply lower on Wednesday dragged down by losses in index heavyweights like Infosys, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Wipro. The Sensex fell as much as 485 poinyts and Nifty 50 index dropped below its important psychological level of 18,000.
As of 9:40 am, the Sensex was down 472 points at 60,295 and Nifty 50 index declined 144 points to 17,969.
Overnight, benchmark US Treasury yields jumped to two-year highs and equity markets tumbled on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq falling more than 2 per cent, as traders braced for the Federal Reserve to tackle fast-rising inflation by tightening monetary policy, news agency Reuters reported.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 1.51 per cent, the S&P 500 fell 1.84 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 2.60 per cent to close almost 10 per cent below its record closing high on Nov. 19, which would confirm a correction.
Back home, ten of 19 sector gauges compiled by the BSE were trading lower led by the S&P BSE Information Technology index's over 1 per cent decline. Realty, teck, Banking, Healthcare, Finance and FMCG shares were also facing selling pressure.
On the other hand, Energy, Auto, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas shares were witnessing buying interest.
Mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a mixed note as S&P BSE MidCap index fell 0.12 per cent while S&P BSE SmallCap index advanced 0.12 per cent.
Infosys was top Nifty loser, the stock fell nearly 2 per cent to Rs 1,887. Wipro, Tata Consumer Products, HCL Technologies, Asian Paints, HDFC Life, Shree Cement, Cipla, Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, Sun Pharma, SBI Life and Kotak Mahindra Bank also fell between 0.7-1.3 per cent.
On the flipside, Bajaj Finance was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 3.44 per cent to Rs 8,010 after its net profit in December quarter jumped 84 per cent to Rs 1,934 crore from Rs 1,049 crore during the same period last year. Its net interest income (NII) for Q3 FY22 increased by 40 per cent to Rs 6,000 crore as against Rs 4,296 crore in Q3 FY21.
