Equity benchmarks broke their four-day record-breaking streak on Wednesday, as traders saw gains at record highs during the weekly expiration of index futures and options contracts a day before the market holiday. The Sensex fell a whopping 604 points from a record high of 56,118.57 and the Nifty 50 index reversed direction after hitting a record high of 16,701.85. ICICI Bank, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys, Power Grid, Larsen & Toubro and Bharti Airtel were among the top performers on the Sensex.
The Sensex finished 163 points lower at 55,629 and the Nifty 50 index fell 46 points to close at 16,569.
“Nifty witnessed a correction from an intraday high of 16,700. It will be critical that the near-term market scenario remains above 16,500. Traders are advised not to build new buy positions until we see further improvement in market size,” says Nifty Ashis Biswas, chief of technical research at CapitalVia Global Research.
Fourteen of the 19 sector indicators compiled by the BSE ended lower, led by a drop of more than 1 percent in the S&P BSE Bankex index. The metals, real estate, financial and IT indices also fell 0.3-1 percent each.
On the other hand, the energy, FMCG and sustainable consumption indices ended with a positive bias.
Mid and small cap stocks ended mixed as the Midcap index rose 0.26 percent and the Smallcap index fell 0.2 percent.
Kotak Mahindra Bank was the top loser; the stock fell 2.31 percent to close at Rs 1,747. Hindalco, ICICI Bank, SBI Life, Tata Motors, Power Grid, IndusInd Bank, HDFC, Wipro, JSW Steel and HCL Technologies also fell 1-2.3% each.
On the other hand, Eicher Motors, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, Adani Ports, Grasim Industries, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle India and Tata Consumer Products were among the winners.
Hindustan Aeronautics rose 3 percent after placing an order of Rs 5,375 crore with GE Aviation, US for the supply of 99 F404-GE-IN20 engines and ancillary services to power its Tejas Light Combat aircraft.
Overall market size was negative as 2,084 stocks finished lower while 1,096 closed higher on the BSE.
