Sensex, Nifty extend fall in early trade; Cyient, RVNL & Tanla down up to 9%

Indian equity benchmarks extended their fall in Wednesday's early trade, dragged by automobile, state-owned lenders and realty stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 317 points or 0.45 per cent to trade at 70,054, while the NSE Nifty was down 83 points or 0.39 per cent to trade at 21,156. Broader markets (mid- and small-cap shares) were also weak as Nifty Midcap 100 fell 0.93 per cent and small-cap slipped 0.98 per cent.

On the global front, Asian share markets were mostly muted. Overnight, Wall Street equities hit a third straight record high.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded Rs 3,115.39 crore worth of shares on a net basis during the previous session, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought Rs 214.40 crore worth of shares, exchange data showed.

12 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty Auto, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Realty were underperforming the NSE platform by falling as much as 1.07 per cent, 1.17 per cent and 2.48 per cent, respectively. However, Nifty IT, Nifty Metal and Nifty Metal capped losses.

On the stock-specific front, Axis Bank was the top loser in the Nifty pack as the stock cracked 5.79 per cent to trade at Rs 1,026.15. Hero MotoCorp, Grasim Industries, NTPC and Tata Motors fell up to 2.73 per cent.

In contrast, Hindalco, Infosys, LTIMindtree, Wipro and Dr Reddy's were among the top gainers.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,485 shares were declining while 1,137 were advancing on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, frontline stocks such as Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, TCS, HDFC Bank, Airtel and Reliance Industries were among the top laggards.

Also, BSE 500 stocks such as Cyient, RVNL, Tanla Platforms, IRFC, Axis Bank, CG Power and Industrial Solutions Ltd, Cochin Shipyard and Hitachi Energy India slumped up to 8.65 per cent. On the other hand, Zee, Infibeam, PCBL, Pidilite Industries and SIS jumped up to 7.06 per cent.

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