Sensex dives over 500 points: Rs 1.4L cr investor wealth lost; LIC Housing, Oberoi Realty, PVR & Adani Total down up to 7%

Indian equity benchmarks fell sharply in afternoon deals on Wednesday, dragged by technology, financials, banks and consumer durables. The BSE Sensex slumped over 450 points while the NSE barometer Nifty tested the 18,150 level. At 12:51 pm, the 30-pack Sensex was down 530 points or 0.86 per cent at 61,402. The NSE benchmark was down 129 points or 0.71 per cent at 18,157. Such was the fall in the domestic indices that around Rs 1.45 lakh crore of BSE market capitalisation (m-cap) was wiped out. The domestic benchmarks cracked today due to profit booking.

"Markets started the day on a promising note but soon experienced profit booking as prices declined throughout the session. The overall sentiment remains strongly bullish, and any consolidation or short-term price correction should be viewed as a healthy part of the upward trend. On the other hand, the levels of 18400 to 18500 can now be considered as an immediate hurdle," said Sameet Chavan, Head Research, Technical and Derivatives at Angel One.

Here's a look at today's market fall in numbers:

Rs 1.45 lakh crore investor wealth lost

Investor wealth, as suggested by the BSE m-cap, fell Rs 1.45 lakh crore to Rs 276.67 lakh crore compared with a valuation of Rs 278.12 lakh crore recorded in the previous session. Frontline stocks such as Infosys, HDFC twins (HDFC and HDFC Bank), Kotak Mahindra Bank, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Bajaj Finance and HCL Technologies contributed to the fall today.

26 stocks hit 52-week lows on BSE

As many as 26 stocks hit their 52-week lows today. BSE 500 stocks such as Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, Ipca Labs, PVR Inox and VMart hit their respective one-year low levels. That said, 115 stocks touched their one-year high levels today.

1,893 stocks in the red

Out of 3,516 stocks, 1,893 stocks were seen declining. Only 1,488 stocks were advancing, while 135 stocks remained unchanged.

LIC Housing Finance, Oberoi Realty & Adani Total down up to 7%

Shares of LIC Housing Finance, Oberoi Realty and PVR Inox fell up to 6.92 per cent in afternoon deals today. Also, six out of 10 listed Adani Group stocks traded lower in afternoon deals today. Adani Total Gas, Adani Transmission, Adani Wilmar, Adani Power, ACC and NDTV fell up to 5 per cent.

IT, financials & banks top drags

For Sensex, the major culprits that dragged the index lower were Infy, Kotak Bank, HDFC duo, Reliance, TCS, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, HCL Tech and SBI. Infy, Kotak Bank, HDFC twins and RIL alone contributed negatively to around a 280-point decline.

On NSE, All 15 sub-indices were down. Nifty IT, Nifty Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Bank fell sharply.

FII-DII data

Foreign institutional investors bought Rs 1,406.86 crore worth of equities on a net basis on Tuesday, while domestic investors sold about Rs 886.17 crore worth of shares, as per provisional NSE data.

On the global front, Asian markets were mostly seen trading mixed. Japan's Nikkei index rose 0.84 per cent, South Korea's Kospi index was up 0.58 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.85 per cent and Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.21 per cent. Wall Street equities plunged on Friday. Further, US stock futures indicated a flat start for Wall Street later in the day.