Stock Market: Sensex Plunges 350 Points, Nifty Trades Near 15,700 Amid Weak Global Cues

Sensex and Nifty, two key equity benchmarks on Tuesday traded lower in opening deals tracking weakness in global markets and rising crude oil rates.

At 10 am, the BSE Sensex was down 350 points to 52,810, while the broader NSE Nifty was trading at 15,627, down 106 points.

Among the Sensex-30 shares, M&M, Dr Reddy’s, Reliance, Tata Steel, ITC, and Maruti were the sole gainers. ONGC, BPCL, and JSW Steel were the additional Nifty winners.

Titan, Asian Paints, Bajaj twins, HDFC, PowerGrid, ICICI Bank, Wipro, Apollo Hospitals, Bajaj Auto and Adani Ports, meanwhile, led losses on the two benchmarks.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices were also in the negative territory, down up to 0.5 per cent.

On NSE, 14 out of the 15 sector gauges were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty Financial Services were underperforming the NSE platform by falling as much as 1.68 per cent and 0.85 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Titan was the top Nifty loser as the stock cracked 3.06 per cent to Rs 1,977.95. Asian Paints, Bajaj Auto, Adani Ports and Bajaj Finserv were also among the laggards.

The overall market breadth was negative as 940 shares were advancing, while 1,324 were declining on the BSE.

In their previous session on Monday, BSE Sensex jumped 433 points (0.82 per cent) to close at 53,161, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 133 points (0.85 per cent) up to settle at 15,832.

Meanwhile, Asian shares slipped in early trade, tracking a volatile Wall Street session overnight.

The rupee depreciated 22 paise to a record low of 78.59 against the US dollar in opening trade on Tuesday as persistent foreign funds outflows weighed on investor sentiments.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened on a weak note at 78.53 against the American dollar, then lost ground to quote at 78.59 — its all-time low level, registering a fall of 22 paise from the last close.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 1.20 per cent to $116.47 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Monday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,278.42 crore, as per stock exchange data.