Closing Bell: Sensex nosedives by 656 points, Nifty falls below 18000

Domestic equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty gave up early gains in a volatile trading session on Wednesday, amid weakness across most global markets.

The Indian equity markets extended fall for the second day due to selling pressure in information technology stocks amid weak global cues. During the last two trading sessions, the Sensex has plunged more than 1,200 and Nifty has below the crucial 18,000 level.

At the closing bell on January 19, the Sensex was down 656.04 points or 1.08% at 60,098.82, and the Nifty was down 174.60 points or 0.96% at 17,938.40. On the market breadth, around 1432 shares have advanced, 1766 shares declined, and 72 shares are unchanged.

Among the top Nifty losers on a bleeding day were Asian Paints, Shree Cements, Infosys, Grasim Industries and HUL, while top gainers included ONGC, Tata Motors, SBI, Coal India and UPL.

A mixed trend was witnessed on the sectoral front, with auto, metal, power and oil & gas indices ending in the green, while selling was seen in the bank, FMCG, IT, pharma and realty sectors. In the broader market, the BSE midcap index fell 0.3% and smallcap index ended flat.

One of the major laggards today was Infosys which cracked 2.90% to Rs 1,865.

In the global market, overall technology stock sell-off spooked Asian share markets as well. Investors are worried about inflation and braced for tighter US monetary policy. Higher U.S. yields and interest rate hikes make risky assets like emerging market equities less attractive, leading to outflows of funds from the region.

Market participants awaited more Q3 numbers from India Inc for cues. Yesterday Bajaj Finance reported an 85% jump in net profit to Rs 2,125 crore for the December quarter, beating Street estimates.