The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes extended losses in noon deals led by losses in banking, financial services and pharma stocks. The benchmarks opened lower and extended slide wherein the Sensex plunged as much as 561 points to fall below 48,000 mark and Nifty 50 index slumped below its important psychological level of 14,100 to hit an intraday low of 14,084.90. Investors resorted to profit booking at record highs ahead of presentation of Union Budget on February 1, analysts said.
As of 12:06 pm, the Sensex fell 545 points to 47,802 and Nifty 50 index dropped 154 points or 1 per cent to 14,084.
Monthly expiry of January futures and option contracts tomorrow was also adding to the selling pressure in the markets, analysts added.
HDFC Bank, HDFC, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and Tata Consultancy Services were among the top drags on the Sensex.
Eight of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Pharma index’s 1.5 per cent fall. Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Metal and Realty indices also dropped over a per cent each.
On the other hand, PSU banking, FMCG and media shares were witnessing some buying.
Mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a mixed note as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.5 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 100 index rose 0.44 per cent.
Tata Motors was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 3.5 per cent to Rs 269. Axis Bank, Asian Paints, HDFC, Sun Pharma, Divi’s Labs, HDFC Bank, Indian Oil, Titan, UPL, Larsen & Toubro, Dr Reddy’s Labs and Tata Steel also fell between 2-3.4 per cent.
On the flipside, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, ITC, UltraTech Cement, HDFC Life, SBI Life and HCL Technologies rose between 1-3 per cent.
The overall market breadth was negative as 1,592 shares were declining while 1,048 were advancing on the BSE.