Sensex, Nifty fall over 1% led by heavyweights

A bird flies past a screen displaying the Sensex results on the facade of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai. | Photo Credit: NIHARIKA KULKARNI

Key benchmark stock indices on Wednesday fell over 1% led by losses in heavyweight stocks. The S&P BSE Sensex fell 1.08%, or 790.34 points, to 72,304.88. The Sensex stocks which lost the most included Power Grid down 4.43%, Maruti (2.94%,) IndusInd Bank (2.93%), M&M (2.68%) and Wipro (2.68%).

The NSE Nifty-50 index too fell 1.11%, or 247.20 points, to 21,951.15.

Avdhut Bagkar, Technical and Derivatives Analyst, StoxBox said, “Indian equity indices moved into the red today ahead of the much-awaited U.S. inflation reading during the week. A slew of strong economic data along with inflation that has proven to be sticky has resulted in traders drastically dialling back their initial expectations of deep and early interest rate cuts from the Fed.”

“The heaviest selling today was seen in heavyweight banks, auto, power and metal stocks. All thirteen sectors were in the red with auto, media, metal and oil & gas sectors dragging the most,” he added.