Sensex falls 710 pts, Nifty holds 15,400; Metal index drops 5%, RIL 3%

CLOSING BELL

Stock market highlights: Stock markets were back on the downtrend after a two-day hiatus, as lack of triggers erased momentum. The BSE Sensex index slumped 710 points, or 1.35 per cent, to end at 51,823 with 28 of the 30 index constituents settling in the red. 

The Nifty50, meanwhile, closed at 15,413, down 226 points or 1.44 per cent.

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The laggards on these indices, including Hindalco, UPL, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Wipro, ONGC, Reliance Industries, Adani Ports, Coal India, HCL Tech, SBI Life, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Consumer Products, and IndusInd Bank, dropped between 2.5 per cent and 6 per cent.

Maruti Suzuki, TCS, Power Grid, Hero MotoCorp, and BPCL were the only gainers, adding up to 1.3 per cent.

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In the broader markets, the Nifty MidCap100 and SmallCap100 indices fell up to 1.6 per cent. On the sectoral front, all the key indices closed in the red with the Nifty Metal index down 5 per cent, and Nifty Oil & Gas index 2 per cent.

Global markets

European stocks fell sharply on Wednesday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 dropping 1.6 per cent in early trade. On Wall Street, Dow Jones Futures fell 1.4 per cent, or over 400 points, while S&P500 and Nasdaq Futures shed up to 2 per cent.

Earlier in Asia, Nikkei fell 0.4 per cent, Kospi plunged about 2.7 per cent, and CSI300 declined 1.3 per cent.