The Indian equity benchmarks fell for third day in a row on Tuesday due to losses in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC and HDFC Bank as the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant weighed on investor sentiment globally ahead of a series of central bank meetings this week, including by the US Federal Reserve. The Sensex fell as much as 480 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 17,225, NDTV reported.
The Sensex ended 166 points lower at 58,117 and Nifty 50 index declined 43 points to settle at 17,325.
The Indian equities markets opened deep in the red on Tuesday with the benchmark Sensex sliding more than 450 points due to heavy selling pressure in banking and auto stocks.
The 30-stock S&P BSE Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange opened in the red at 58,059.76 points and slumped to a low of 57,843.12 points in the early trade. The index recovered a bit and touched a high of 58,187.91 points. However, it again fell sharply, and at around 10.50 am the index was trading at 57,832.77 points, 0.77 per cent, or 450.65 points lower than the previous day's close at 58,283.42 points.
The broader Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also opened in the red 17,283.20 points. The Nifty 50 was trading at 17,234.45 points at around 10.50 am on Tuesday, 0.77 per cent lower than the previous day's close at 17,368.25 points.
Bajaj Finserv slumped 2.39 per cent to Rs.16906.40. Bajaj Finance dipped 2.33 per cent to Rs.7051.70. Other major Sensex losers included Kotak Bank 2.12 per cent down at Rs.1833.50; ITC down 1.66 per cent at Rs.230.80; Mahindra & Mahindra down 1.65 per cent at Rs.829.10; HDFC 1.42 per cent down at Rs.2731.50 and IndusInd Bank 1.19 per cent down at Rs.927.05.
Only eight of the 30 stocks that are part of the benchmark Sensex were trading in the positive. Power Grid Corporation jumped 2.18 per cent to Rs.208.80. Hindustan Unilever 0.44 per cent higher at Rs.2316.55; Dr Reddy 0.37 per cent higher at Rs.4615.45 and NTPC 0.28 per cent higher at Rs.126.05 were among the major Sensex gainers.
(With media inputs)