Sensex sinks 637pts, gives up 61K, Nifty near 18K; Realty, Metals top drags

CLOSING BELL: TCS, Maruti, Divis's Labs, HDFC Life and Dr Reddy's were among the handful of stocks that held minor gains

CLOSING BELL

Stock market highlights

Equity markets melted under selling pressure on Wednesday to snap their two-day gains as the Street awaited release of the minutes of the US Fed's latest meeting. 

During the session, the BSE Sensex gave up the 61,000 level and slipped 700 points to the day's low of 60,594 before closing 637 points lower (down 1 per cent) at 60,657.

The NSE Nifty shed 190 points (down 1 per cent) to close at 18,043 level. It had slumped 213 points to touch the day's low of 18,021. 

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Among index constituents, Tata Motors, Power Grid, Tata Steel, HDFC twins, Infosys, Wipro, Reliance, IndusInd Bank, ITC, Nestle and Bharti Airtel were the worst hit on the Sensex, down 1-2.5 per cent. On the Nifty, JSW Steel, Hindalco, Coal India and ONGC were the top laggards, which shed up to 4 per cent. 

TCS, Maruti, Divis's Labs, HDFC Life and Dr Reddy's were among the handful of stocks that held minor gains. 

Losses were spread across the broader market as well. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices lost 1 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively. 

Sectorally, all pockets ended lower led by Nifty Realty, Metal and PSB indices, which fell 2 per cent each. Pharma index suffered a fractional loss of 0.15 per cent. 

Primary market

As of 3:40 pm, the initial public offering (IPO) of Sah Polymers was subscribed 16 times on the final day of subscription with the retail investor and NII portions having been subscribed by 36 and 32 times, respectively.  

4:12 PM

TECHNICAL VIEW: Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Head of Technical Research, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas

The Nifty faced resistance near a rising trendline & the key daily moving averages for yet another session. Thereon the index tumbled sharply towards 18000. The bulls managed to defend the key psychological level for the day. Unless Nifty breaks 18000 on the downside, it can once again take a leap towards 18250-18300. On the other hand, breach of 18000 will allow the Nifty to slide further towards the lower end of the short term consolidation i.e. 17800.

4:06 PM

MARKET VIEW: Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

The domestic market affected by the worries in the global market, traded with deep cuts. Fears over aggressive rate hikes resurfaced ahead of the release of Fed meeting minutes, a meeting that left the door open for additional hikes. Apart from global cues, the domestic market will pay close attention to corporate earnings. India’s services PMI expanded to 58.5 in December owing to stronger growth in new business.

4:03 PM

Over 1,000 stocks advanced, while 2,276 declined

3:58 PM

RRP Infra surges 2% after it wins new order worth Rs 104.55 crore

3:55 PM

Allcargo Logistics rises 1% as arm acquires complete stake in Asiapac Equity Investment

3:53 PM

John Cockerill gains 2% after it bags order from Tata Steel

3:50 PM

Bhansali Engineering surges 3% amid heavy volumes

3:46 PM

JSW Steel, Hindalco, Coal India top Nifty50 laggards

3:43 PM

Divi's Lab, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Life top Nifty50 leaders

3:40 PM

Broader markets bleed; India VIX jumps 5%

3:38 PM

All sectors drown in the sea of red; realty, metal indices worst hit

3:36 PM

SENSEX HEATMAP: Only 2 out of 30 counters close with marginal gains

3:34 PM

CLOSING BELL: Nifty50 slips below 18,050 levels, down 1.1%

3:31 PM

CLOSING BELL: Over 600pts fall for Sensex, ends below 61,000-mark

3:26 PM

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