Sensex Sheds Over 300 Points; Asian Paints, Power Grid, Bajaj Auto Top Losers

The domestic stock markets have shed more than half a per cent in afternoon trading, amid bouts of choppiness, ahead of derivatives expiry. At 2:30 pm, the BSE Sensex is trading at 59,051.50, lower by 361.20 or 0.61 per cent and the NSE Nifty is at 17,595.50, down 113.60 points or 0.63 per cent. The broader indices are outperforming their largecap peers, with the BSE Midcap index and BSE Smallcap index gaining 0.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively.

The rupee has depreciated 22 paise to 74.36 against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, amid a muted trend in domestic equities. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened on a weak note at 74.28 and fell further to 74.36 thereafter.

Financials and pharma stocks are trading strong on Thursday afternoon. Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv have gained 2 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively to top the gainers list on the BSE. And in the pharma space, Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's have gained around a per cent each on the BSE.

On the other hand, Asian Paints, Powergrid and Bajaj Auto are trading with losses of around a per cent each on the BSE.

Among stocks in the news, Coal India shares rose more than 1 per cent to touch an intra-day high of Rs 191 on the BSE a day after the state-owned company announced plans to ramp up its supply output to power plants.

The BSE market breadth is weak. Out of 3,325 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1,829 advancing shares as against 1,325 declines.