Sensex, Nifty Resume Decline After A Day's Pause; Infosys, Reliance Top Drags

The Indian equity benchmarks resumed decline after a day's pause in the previous session dragged by losses in heavyweights like Infosys, Reliance Industries, ITC, HDFC, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Consultancy Services and Maruti Suzuki. For most part of the day benchmarks traded firmly higher but selling pressure in the last hour of trade around resistance levels of 17,600 on Nifty led to sharp correction in the markets, analysts said. The Sensex fell as much as 825 points from the day's highest level and Nifty touched an intraday low of 17,354.

The Sensex fell 323 points to close at 58,341 and Nifty 50 index declined 88 points to settle at 17,415.

"Our research suggests that sustaining above 17,400 will be an important level for the Nifty to stay positive in the short term. If the market is able to sustain the level of 17,400, It can witness a positive momentum towards levels of 18,000," said Vijay Dhanotiya, lead technical research analyst at CapitalVia Global Research.

Seven of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty IT index's 1.5 per cent decline. Nifty Auto, FMCG, Pharma, Healthcare and Consumer Durable indices also fell between 0.5-1.3 per cent.

On the other hand, Nifty Bank, Media, PSU Bank, Private Bank and Oil & Gas indices ended higher.

Mid- and small-cap stocks ended mixed as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.4 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.63 per cent.

Eicher Motors was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 2.8 per cent to close at Rs 2,526. Tata Consumer Products, Maruti Suzuki, Grasim Industries, Infosys, ITC, Cipla, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, Divi's Labs, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel and HDFC Life also fell between 1.4-2.8 per cent.

On the other hand, ONGC, Adani Ports, Coal India, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharat Petroleum, Indian Oil, ICICI Bank and Power Grid were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,953 shares ended higher while 1,336 closed lower on the BSE.