The overall market breadth was weak as 1,476 shares were advancing while 1,704 were declining on BSE.New Delhi: The Indian equity benchmarks plunged on Thursday halting a four-day winning streak amid a massive surge in Covid-19 cases.
India has reported 90,928 new Covid cases in a day.
Asian shares also fell extending a global plunge after Federal Reserve meeting minutes pointed to a faster-than-expected rise in United States interest rates due to concerns about persistent inflation.Back home, as of 10:46 am, the 30-share BSE Sensex pack was down 917 points or 1.52 per cent at 59,306 and the broader NSE Nifty moved 254 points or 1.42 per cent lower to 17,671.Mid- and small-cap shares were in red as Nifty Midcap 100 index was down 0.72 per cent and small-cap shares were trading 0.25 per cent lower."The Indian benchmarks started with a gap-down opening amid negative global cues.
Traders may take note of ICRA report that the third wave of the pandemic rising exponentially worldwide.
Some respite may come in the market as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers in the Indian equity market as per yesterday data," Gaurav Garg, Head of Research, Capitalvia Global Research Ltd told TheIndianSubcontinent."Our research suggests that if the market sustained the level of 17,600 (Nifty), we may expect to gain the early market correction.
If market unable to sustained the level of 17,600, we can expect it to trade till the lower range of 17,300-17,500," he added.On the stock-specific front, Adani Ports was the top Nifty laggard as the stock dived 2.89 per cent to Rs 733.10.
JSW Steel, HDFC twins (HDFC and HDFC Bank) and Kotak Mahindra Bank were also among the losers.On the flipside, UPL Ltd, Hindalco, Bajaj Auto, Maruti and Bharti Airtel were among the gainers.The overall market breadth was weak as 1,476 shares were advancing while 1,704 were declining on BSE.On the 30-share BSE platform, HDFC twins, Kotak Mahindra Bank, NTPC, Asian Paints, Infosys and Reliance Industries attracted the most losses with their shares falling as much as 2.08 per cent in early trade.Maruti and Airtel were among the gainers.The benchmark BSE Sensex had surged 367 points or 0.61 per cent to close at 60,223 on Wednesday, while the broader NSE Nifty had settled 120 points or 0.67 per cent higher at 17,805.