Sensex Falls Over 350 Points Tracking Asian Markets, Nifty Trades Below 15,500

Indian equity benchmarks on Wednesday failed to maintain the upward trend in opening deals, tracking weakness in Asian stocks. Asian shares slipped in volatile trade today, snapping an overnight Wall Street rally amid persistent worries about interest rate hikes by the central banks to tame inflation.

Trends on the Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange (SGX Nifty) indicated a gap-down start for the domestic indices.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 380 points or 0.72 per cent to 52,152 in a volatile early session, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 119 points or 0.76 per cent down to trade at 15,520.

Mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a weak note today as Nifty Midcap 100 plunged 0.92 per cent and small-cap shed 0.86 per cent.

12 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty Metal, Nifty Oil & Gas and Nifty Bank were underperforming the NSE platform by falling as much as 2.75 per cent, 2.24 per cent and 0.85 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Hindalco was the top Nifty loser as the stock cracked 4.54 per cent to Rs 323.85. ONCG, Tata Steel, JSW Steel adn UPL were also among the laggards.

The overall market breadth was negative as 955 shares were advancing while 1,365 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, Titan, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Wipro, HCL Tech and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the top losers.

In contrast, Hindustan Unilever, Dr Reddy's, Maruti and TCS were trading in the green.

Sensex had surged 934 points or 1.81 per cent to close at 52,532 on Tuesday, while Nifty had moved 289 points or 1.88 per cent up to settle at 15,639.