Sensex Ends 323 Points Lower Weighed Down By Banking, Metal Shares

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes fell on Thursday, weighed down by selling pressure in banking, metal, auto and real estate shares as weekly index future and option contracts expired. The benchmarks had a gap-down opening, following weak global cues amid concerns of economic recovery worldwide. The Sensex dropped as much as 377 points and Nifty 50 index briefly dropped below important psychological level of 11,500.

The Sensex fell 323 points to close at 38,980 and Nifty dropped 88 points to close at 11,516.

Eight of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower, led by the Nifty Realty index's 1.7 per cent decline. Banking, financial services, FMCG, metal, infrastructure and energy shares also witnessed selling pressure.

On the other hand, select information technology and pharma shares witnessed buying interest.

In the broader markets, the Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.25 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index slipped 0.48 per cent.

Among individual shares, Happiest Minds shares made a blockbuster debut on stock exchanges. The stock was listed at a premium of 111.4 per cent at Rs 351 on the BSE against the issue price of Rs 166. Happiest Minds outperformed IRCTC and DMart, which had delivered returns of just a little over 100 per cent on debut.

Happiest Minds Technologies' Rs 702-crore IPO was over-subscribed by a whopping 150.98 times, making it one of the most subscribed share offerings in recent history.

Hindalco was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 4 per cent to close at Rs 176. Tata Motors, Shree Cements, Bajaj Finserv, Adani Ports, Bharti Infratel, Power Grid, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank also fell 1.4-2.5 per cent each.

On the other hand, Zee Entertainment, Infosys, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, Grasim Industries, BPCL and Coal India were also among the notable gainers.

Among stocks in the news, Dr Reddy's Labs rose 4 per cent after it announced launch of over-the-counter Olopatadine Hydrochloride Ophthalmic Solution USP, 0.2 per cent and 0.1 per cent in the US market.

HCL Technologies advanced 2 per cent after the IT major announced the expansion of its strategic partnership with Google Cloud.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,574 shares ended lower while 1,153 closed higher on the BSE.