The Indian equity benchmarks edged lower on Wednesday, August 19, mirroring weakness in global markets tracking a surge in crude prices and bond yields.
The SENSEX fell as much as 264 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 24,065 dragged down by losses in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India.
As of 9:48 am, the SENSEX was down 209 points at 77,017 and NIFTY50 index declined 73 points to 24,082.
Asian markets were trading sharply lower as rising bond yields and crude oil prices revived inflation fears. Selling pressure in chip makers added to weakness in markets across the region, analysts noted.
Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.86%, South Korea’s KOSPI index plunged 5.42%, China’s Shanghai Composite index crashed 5.46% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.01%.
Overnight, US stocks ended lower tracking a selloff in artificial intelligence shares.
Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.22%, S&P 500 index declined 0.7% and tech heavy Nasdaq plunged 1.33%.
Brent crude futures rose as much as 1.12% to $92.04 per barrel on supply uncertainty as conflicting messages from Iran and United States whether the Strait of Hormuz is open for transit.
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday no talks were taking place with Iran and insisted the Strait of Hormuz was open, contradicting Iran’s assertion that the critical waterway remained shut to shipping, CNBC reported.
Back home, 11 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading lower led by the NIFTY Realty index’s 0.9% fall. NIFTY Auto, Metal, Financial Services, Bank, PSU Bank, Private Bank and Consumer Durables indices also fell between 0.3% and 0.7%.
On the other hand, IT and select FMCG and pharma shares were witnessing buying interest.
Broader markets were also facing selling pressure as NIFTY Midcap 100 index declined 0.4% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index slipped 0.24%.
Among the individual shares, RailTel Corporation rose as much as 7.34% to touch an intraday high of ₹297.50 after the company informed exchanges that it won a work order from EPFO worth ₹166 crore.
Mahanagar Gas and Indraprastha Gas shares rose over 3% each after the Cabinet approved a revised APM gas allocation framework to ensure a stable supply of cheaper domestic natural gas for CNG and household PNG segments. The move is expected to improve supply visibility, reduce reliance on costly LNG and support margins for CGD companies.
Tata Steel was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 1.43% to ₹182.85 after Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Tuesday approved Tata Steel’s proposed acquisition of an additional 23% equity stake in TM International Logistics Ltd (TMILL).
Hindalco, SBI Life, Coal India, Bajaj Finance, Bharat Electronics, Power Grid, Max Healthcare, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Motors PV and Axis Bank also fell between 0.65% and 1.4%.
On the flip side, HCL Technologies, Eternal, Infosys, Wipro, Sun Pharma, Nestle India, ONGC, Tata Consumer Products, Tech Mahindra and Kotak Mahindra Bank were top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.
The overall market breadth was negative as 1,804 shares were declining while 1,158 were advancing on the NSE.