INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Both BSE and NSE had climbed about 4 per cent each over the last three sessions.New Delhi: The Indian equity benchmarks on Thursday plunged
sharply in late deals, pausing a three-day winning run amid weak global cues
As of 1:55 pm, the benchmark BSE Sensex tanked 632 points or 1.06 per cent to 58,926, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 185 points or 1.04
per cent lower to 17,595.Asian shares were mostly weak as Japan's Nikkei index plunged 1.11 per cent and the Shanghai Composite index fell
United States stock futures were lower after Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc's shares plunged more than 20 per cent in overnight
post-market trade after missing earnings estimates.Back home, Mid- and small-cap shares were in the negative zone as Nifty Midcap 100 index
that India's services sector growth fell to a six-month low in January, owing to constraints imposed by the Omicron wave of Covid-19
infections and rising pricing, said Gaurav Garg, Head of Research, Capitalvia Global Research Ltd.On the stock-specific front, HDFC was the
top Nifty laggard as the stock cracked 3.29 per cent to Rs 2,527.05
SBI Life, Infosys, ONGC and Larsen and Toubro (L-T) were also among the laggards
Sub-indices Nifty IT and Nifty Financial Services were seen underperforming the NSE index.In contrast, Hero MotorCorp, Bajaj Auto, Maruti
Suzuki India, Divi's Lab and Indian Oil Corp were among the gainers.On BSE, the overall market breadth was slightly positive as 1,764
shares were advancing while 1,531 were declining.On the 30-share BSE platform, HDFC, Infosys, L-T, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tech Mahindra,
Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Finance, Nestle India, and Reliance Industries attracted the most losses with their shares sliding as much as 3.16
per cent.Also, shares of Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services (Mahindra Finance) fell as much as 5.30 per cent to Rs 160 after posting
weak third-quarter numbers on a sequential basis
Mahindra Finance has a profit of Rs 992 crore for the December 2021 quarter against Rs 1,103 crore posted in the September 2021 quarter.The
indexes had climbed about 4 per cent each over the last three sessions with the Union Budget 2022-23 in focus."The market had been supported
by the growth-orient budget, but we now have to really see what is happening globally
Until the dust settles around interest rates, volatility will stay," Aishvarya Dadheech, a fund manager at Ambit Asset Management in Mumbai,
told news agency Reuters.
