Nifty50 Tanks 1.2% After a Gap-Down Open; 28 Stocks on Sensex Trade in Red

By Malvika Gurung

Investing.com -- Tracking negative global cues amid hawkish interpretation of Fed’s minutes released from the last meeting held in December, the Indian benchmark equity indices ended a three-day gaining streak and witnessed a gap-down open on Thursday, as Nifty50 shed 1.08% or 193 points and BSE Sensex declined 1.15% or 695 points while drafting this report.

At 10:08 am on Thursday, of the 30 stocks in BSE Sensex, only 2 were trading in green, while 28 scrips were trading in red. The only two stocks climbing in the index were Maruti Suzuki (NS: MRTI ) India, up 1.13% and the telecom major Bharti Airtel (NS: BRTI ), up 0.48%.

The losses were led by HDFC (NS: HDFC ), HDFC Bank (NS: HDBK ), Kotak Mahindra Bank (NS: KTKM ) and NTPC (NS: NTPC ), trading from over 2% to 1.5% in red.

Of the 11 NSE sectoral indices baskets, 10 were trading with losses, the most laggard being Nifty Fin Service, down 1.47%. At 10:16 am, Nifty Media was the only sectoral index trading muted, up 0.01%.

Wall Street declined sharply negative on Wednesday, after the minutes from the last Federal Reserve’s policy meeting was released, which indicated that interest rates could hike faster than anticipated in 2022, to curb rising inflation.

As a result, the tech-heavy Nasdaq fared its worst slump since February, while S&P 500 slid the most since September and Dow Jones notched its first decline in 2022.

Asian markets mirrored the losses witnessed on Wall Street and traded lower on Thursday, leading Dalal Street to open weaker amid subdued responses.