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Markets continued to trade lower dragged down majorly by mortgage lender HDFC and banking stocks such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI among other heavyweights. Losses in the above stocks collectively pulled the benchmark Sensex 78 points lower at this hour.
At 2:35pm, the 30-stock benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)—Sensex was trading 66 points lower at 21,769 while the 50-unit National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty was off 28 points lower at 6,496 levels.
Other notable losers at this hour include L&T and ITC which were down 1%. Top Sensex gainers which also helped to cap the losses were software heavyweights TCS and Infosys which rebounded 1-3.5% after slipping in past sessions owing to their respective management commentaries which hinted at subdued fourth quarter.
The S&P BSE IT index, the largest gainer among sectoral indices, is up 1.99% or 173 points as compared to 0.33% or 72 points fall in S&P BSE Sensex.
Among BSE sectoral indices which track stocks of various industrial sectors, BSE Realty, capital goods, power and bankex indices were top losers at this hour.
Among broader markets, BSE mid-cap was down 0.2% while the small-cap index was marginally.
Market breath was weak with 1164 stocks advancing against a decline seen in 1520 stocks.
Market participants world over didn’t take kindly to US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s comments to increase interest rates earlier than expected.
Globally, stocks in Japan slumped to a six-week low on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen hinted at raising interest rates starting earlier previosly expected, sparking a sell-off in equities.
The Nikkei share average shed 1.7% to close at 14,224.23, its lowest closing level since February 6. For the week, the index dropped 0.7%. Markets in Japan will shut on Friday for a public holiday.
On Wednesday, Yellen said the Fed might end its bond-buying program this fall, and could start to raise interest rates around six months later, earlier than most analysts had anticipated.
The dollar rose 0.9% to 102.40 yen, after Fed’s comments. Exporter-oriented stocks remained mixed. Vehicle-maker Honda Motor Co gained 0.5%, Toyota Motor Corp shed 0.3% while Canon Inc was down 0.3%.
