Market wrap: Sensex, Nifty slip for third straight day amid broad sell-off

Top headlines

• Sensex falls 372 points in broad-based selloff; slips 2% during the week

• Paytm tumbles 27% after weak debut; analysts suggest exiting the stock

• Sapphire Foods lists at a 14% premium

• Escorts hits record high as Japan-based Kubota increases stake

• Rating assessment of India focused on medium-term debt trajectory, says Fitch

Headline indices ended lower for a third straight day, falling over half a per cent on Thursday, amid tepid global sentiment on the back of high inflation.

The BSE Sensex ended the session at 59,636, down 372 points, while the Nifty50 closed at 17,765, down 134 points. On a weekly basis, both the indices are down 2 per cent each. The markets will be closed tomorrow on account of GuruNanak Jayanti.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices fell 1.7 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively.

Among individual stocks, the shares of Paytm debuted on the bourses at Rs 1,955 apiece, a 9 per cent discount to their issue price of Rs 2,150. After listing, the shares tumbled 27 per cent and closed at Rs 1,564 per share.

Given the offer's aggressive pricing and the fact that One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, still remains a loss-making entity, most analysts are advising investors who got an allotment to book loss at the current level and invest in more promising counters.

Sapphire Foods, on the other hand, listed at a 14-per-cent premium at Rs 1,350 per share. The shares closed at Rs 1,216 apiece and analysts suggest aggressive investors to hold the stock from a long-term perspective.

That apart, the shares of Escorts hit a fresh all-time-high of Rs 1,825 after they surged 12 per cent on the BSE. The upmove came after the company's Japanese partner Kubota Corporation agreed to acquire an additional 5.9 per cent stake in it for Rs 1,873 crore, taking its total holding to nearly 15 per cent.

On the other hand, the shares of Vedanta dropped 8.5% after the Supreme Court ordered a CBI investigation into the 2002 disinvestment of Hindustan Zinc Ltd, which was allegedly at a very low price.

Some other top developments of the day:

• Go Fashion concluded its second day of public offering with 6 times subscription. The issue will close on Monday, Nov 22nd.

• In an interview with Business Standard, Fitch Ratings' Director for Asia-Pacific Sovereigns, Jeremy Zook, said that while there was a very strong cyclical recovery in the Indian economy. There was still uncertainty over medium-term prospects. But these were narrowing, he said.