Sensex Falls Over 400 Points, Nifty Below 11,300 Tracking Global Markets

Domestic stock markets started Thursday's session on a negative note following three days of gains, amid losses across global equities after the US central bank warned the world's largest economy faced a highly uncertain path to recovery from the coronavirus-induced downturn. The S&P BSE Sensex index shed as many as 402.13 points - or 1.04 per cent - to hit 38,212.66 in the first few minutes of trade, having started the session down 330.89 points at 38,283.90. The broader NSE Nifty 50 benchmark dropped to as low as 11,294.15, down 114.25 points - or 1.02 per cent - from its previous close, after opening weaker at 11,317.45 compared to its previous close of 11,408.40. 

At 9:21 am, the Sensex traded 359.82 points - or 0.93 per cent - lower at 38,254.97 while the Nifty was at 11,306.05, down 102.35 points - or 0.90 per cent - from its previous close.

Losses in financial, automobile and metal shares pulled the markets lower, however mild gains in IT and pharmaceutical stocks limited the fall.

ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, ONGC, Adani Ports and ITC, trading between 1.54 per cent and 1.98 per cent lower, were the worst hit among the 39 laggards in the 50-scrip Nifty index.

On the other hand, Zee Entertainment, Cipla, NTPC, HCL Tech and Infosys, trading between 0.50 per cent and 3.79 per cent higher, were the top Nifty gainers at the time.

Global market sentiment had been bullish up until the Federal Reserve's comments, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hitting all-time highs driven largely by Apple Inc, whose market value touched the $2-trillion milestone.

The readout on Fed discussions provides hints to further action that the US central bank could take in September. No change in interest rate policy is expected until the end of 2021.

Equities across Asia suffered losses, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan last seen trading 1.62 per cent lower, while Japan's Nikkei 225 benchmark was down 0.70 per cent.

China's Shanghai Composite, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and South Korea's KOSPI indices were down 1.06 per cent, 2.00 per cent and 2.90 per cent at the time respectively.

The E-Mini S&P 500 futures were down 0.64 per cent, indicating a negative start for US markets on Thursday. On Wednesday. the S&P 500 index had ended 0.44 per cent lower, whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite gauges declined 0.31 per cent and 0.57 per cent respectively.