| Sensex extends losses to second day, tanks 566 points, Nifty barely holds 17,800 | | |  The Indian equity benchmarks fell for the second straight session on Wednesday, dragged by financial and information technology (IT) stocks. Investors turned cautious amid a surge in oil prices and prospects of aggressive rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 566 points or 0.94 per cent to close at 59,610, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 150 points or 0.83 per cent lower to settle at 17,808.
Mid- and small-cap shares finished on a weak note as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.59 per cent and small-cap shed 0.12 per cent.
12 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- ended in the red. Nifty Financial Services and Nifty IT underperformed the index by falling as much as 1.59 per cent and 1.63 per cent, respectively.
On the stock-specific front, HDFC twins (HDFC and HDFC Bank) were the top Nifty losers as the stocks cracked 3.30 per cent and 3.59 per cent, respectively. HDFC Life, HCL Tech and Tech Mahindra were also among the laggards. HDFC twins had rallied nearly 10 per cent each on Monday after the merger announcement. Both the stocks have declined after that.
The overall market breadth stood positive as 2,198 shares advanced while 1,196 declined on BSE.
On the 30-share BSE index, HDFC twins, HCL Tech, TechM, Infosys, TCS and M&M were among the top losers.
In contrast, NTPC, Tata Steel, PowerGrid, Bharti Airtel, Nestle India, L&T and SBI settled in the green. |
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