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The benchmark indices on Thursdwere trading sharply lower after Asian markets suffered losses taking cues from a lackluster day on Wall Street.
The S&P BSE Sensex breached its crucial 25,000 level, while Nifty50 slipped below its 8,000 mark for first time since November 25.
At 12:47 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 25,976, down 266 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 7,975, down 86 points.
The broad market depicted weakness. There were more than two losers against every gainer on BSE. 1,930 shares fell and 466 shares rose. A total of 131 shares were unchanged.
On Wednesday, the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1178.08 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1057.96 crore, provisional data available with the stock exchanges suggested.
Sectors and stocks
All but two stocks (ITC, Sun Pharma) were trading in red on Sensex. Tata Steel, Infosys and Adani Ports declined the most to lose up to 3%on Sensex.
Sectorally, S&P BSE Metals (2.61%) and S&P BSE Basic Materials (2%) indices lost the most.
Sun Pharma rose 3.79% in intraday trade after the company said that it has received a Complete Response Letter (CRL) from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for the new drug application (NDA) for Xelpros, Latanoprost BAK-free eyedrops.
Centrum Capital surged 18% to Rs 31.40 after nearly 5% of company's total equity changed hands through block deal on the counter. The name of the buyers and sellers were not ascertained immediately.
GST Council meet begins today
Back home, investors will keep an eye on the two-day Goods & Services Tax (GST) Council meet which begins later in the day. The GST Council will discuss drafts of the model GST, integrated GST and states' compensation Bills.
The prime minister Narendra Modi’s push to demonetisation has derailed the timely implementation of the GST with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley extending the deadline beyond April 2017. It may not be easy to reach consensus in the GST Council meeting as states won't risk another setback by rushing the sales tax into force.
A slump in business activity stemming from the cash crunch has already caused the revenue of state governments to slump by 25-40%.
Global markets
Asian shares struggled on Thursday. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was slightly higher in early trade, while Japan's Nikkei stock index slumped 0.6%. China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.2%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 1%.
US stocks, which have been on a tear since the November 8 election on bets that the incoming Trump Administration will embark on growth-stimulating, inflation-stoking policies, pulled back from the record highs logged in the previous session.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.16% to end at 19,941.96 points and the S&P 500 lost 0.25% to 2,265.18. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.23% to 5,471.43.
(With inputs from Reuters)
