Nifty, Sensex Fall Over 1% Each; HDFC, Bajaj Finance, Infosys Major Draggers

Market Ends Lower For Fifth Straight Day, Realty, IT Weigh on Sensex, Nifty

Domestic equity benchmarks fell for the fifth straight session on Tuesday, with the BSE Sensex tanking over 600 points and the NSE Nifty50 dropping below the 17,500 mark. The selling pressure was broad-based, with all sectoral indices ending in the red.

HDFC, Bajaj Finance, Infosys Drag

Among the major drags on the Sensex were HDFC, Bajaj Finance and Infosys. HDFC fell 2.6%, Bajaj Finance lost 2.3% and Infosys declined 1.8%. Other major losers included ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries and Axis Bank.

Realty, IT Stocks Weigh

The realty and IT sectors were the worst hit among the sectoral indices. The Nifty Realty index fell 2.5%, while the Nifty IT index declined 1.7%. Among the realty stocks, DLF fell 3.4%, Godrej Properties lost 2.8% and Oberoi Realty declined 2.7%. Among the IT stocks, Wipro fell 2.2%, HCL Tech lost 1.9% and TCS declined 1.7%.

Nifty Below 17,500

The Nifty50 index fell below the 17,500 mark during the session and ended at 17,461.15, down 101.15 points or 0.58%. The index has now fallen over 5% from its recent high of 18,604.45 hit on October 19.

Broad-Based Selling

The selling pressure was broad-based, with all sectoral indices ending in the red. The Nifty Bank index fell 1.1%, the Nifty Auto index declined 0.9% and the Nifty FMCG index lost 0.8%.

Global Cues

Asian stocks were mixed on Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225 index in Japan rising 0.3% and the Shanghai Composite index in China falling 0.2%. European stocks were also mixed, with the FTSE 100 index in the UK rising 0.1% and the DAX index in Germany falling 0.2%.

Outlook

Analysts say that the market is likely to remain volatile in the near term, as investors await the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting later this week. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by 75 basis points, which could weigh on the market.