Markets extend free fall; Sensex sheds over 200 pts, Nifty 50 scraps 16,600; Auto stock underperforms

26 Jul 2022 , 09:29 AM

Investors selling bias in Indian equities was extended to Tuesday tracking weak Asian cues. A broad-based sell-off was witnessed in benchmarks Sensex and Nifty 50 during the opening bell. The 30-scrip index scrapped 55,600-level, while the Nifty 50 erased 16,600-mark. Media stocks outrun the bears that dragged broader sectoral indices with auto stocks being the worst hit.

In the early deals, Sensex has touched an intraday high and low of 55,834.38 and 55,483.37. While Nifty 50 clocked the day’s high and low of 16,636.10 and 16,570 respectively.

At around 09.31 AM, Sensex was trading at 55,531.98 nosediving by 234.24 points or 0.42%. Nifty 50 slipped by 59 points or 0.35% and trading at 16,572.

On the gainers’ side on Nifty were – Bajaj Finserv outperformed by gaining over 3% while Tech Mahindra surging by a little over 1%. Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel and UPL climbed between 0.4-0.6%.

On the bears front on Nifty- Axis Bank and Dr Reddy’s took lead plunging by 1.6% each followed by Asian Paints diving at 1.4%. Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, Ultratech Cement also weighed down plunging between 1-1.5%.

Tata Steel stock is in focus after the company announced its financial performance for June 2022 quarter.

Companies that are set to announce their Q1 result today are – Larsen & Toubro, Asian Paints, Baid Finserv, Bajaj Auto, Tata Power  Company, Union Bank of India, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC, United Spirits, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, UTI Asset Management Company, Greenlam Industries, Ramco Systems, Symphony, Sanofi India, Shoppers Stop and Apollo Pipes.
 
Other stocks like Nestle India, Tata Motors, Infosys, Cipla, Britannia, BPCL also dragged.

In terms of sectoral indices, Nifty Auto was the top bear nosediving by nearly 1%, while Bank, Pharma and IT  index contracted marginally.

Except for Nifty Media, all other sectoral indices performed between flat to a steep fall.

On the global front, US markets see pullback with Dow Jones gaining 90 points while Nasdaq closes lower by 50 points as technology stocks see another day of profit booking.

Asian markets opened mixed with the Japanese ‘Nikkei’ seeing another weak opening trading lower by 140 points. Most other Asian markets trade flat to mildly positive as investors await Federal Reserve action on Wednesday with 75 basis points rate hike priced in.