In line with losses in the global markets on fresh worries about a financial crisis ahead of the US Fed's policy announcement later today, equity benchmark indexes began lower on Wednesday morning.
The NSE Nifty50 dropped 72 points to 18,075 while the BSE Sensex dropped 270 points to 61,150.
Losses on the Sensex were led by Axis Bank, Infosys, Tech M, Bajaj Finserv, TCS, HCL Tech, ICICI Bank, SBI, and RIL, while the top Nifty losers were Hindalco and JSW Steel.
On the other hand, a select group of top gainers included Tata Motors, Asian Paints, Nestle, HUL, NTPC, Power Grid, and BPCL.
Wider markets started out slowly. In contrast to losses in the BSE Sensex, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indexes remained almost unchanged.
Following the insolvency filing by Wadia-owned Go First, which was motivated by a cash crunch caused by the grounding of nearly half of its 57 aircraft, the stocks of aviation giants IndiGo and SpiceJet increased by 6% and 3%, respectively.
Sectorally, the Nifty IT and PSB indexes both fell 1%. The only areas that were green were the Media and Realty indexes.
World cues
The soundness of tiny regional banks has caused investors to sell off banking shares overnight in the US. The Dow Jones dropped 1.08 %. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.08 percent and the S&P 500 lost 1.16 percent.
The Strait Times, S&P/ASX 200, Hang Seng, and Kospi all decreased by 0.7 to 1% in Asia. Markets are closed for a holiday in both Japan and mainland China.
After falling 5% on Tuesday due to concerns about demand, Brent oil was trading at $75 a barrel on the commodities market.
