Sensex slumps 542 points, Nifty ends below 17,600; Home First, Aptus & Adani Enterprises drop up to 8%

Indian equity benchmarks returned to negative territory on Thursday, halting a three-session winning streak. The domestic indices were dragged by automobile, consumer, technology, banks, financials and energy stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack dived 542 points or 0.90 per cent to close at 59,806; while the broader NSE Nifty index moved 165 points or 0.93 per cent lower to settle at 17,590. Mid and smallcap shares finished on a weak note, with the Nifty Midcap 100 down 0.55 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 falling 0.54 per cent. Fear gauge India VIX rose 2.20 per cent to 12.73. Most Asian stocks settled lower today.

Persisting interest rate hike fears kept investors cautious today. Selling pressure in select index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys pulled the indices lower further.

"The domestic market could hardly hold on to its previous gains as the Fed chair's reaffirmation of his hawkish statement brought in more worries. Given this backdrop, the upcoming US job data will have a substantial impact on the Fed's policy decisions in its upcoming FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting. A stronger-than-expected jobs report will prompt the Fed to raise interest rates by 50 basis points," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

On the technical front, market looked bearish. "On an intraday basis, the benchmark Nifty has broken its important support of 17,585, which is also the 200-day EMA (Exponential Moving Average), but has managed to close above these levels. On daily charts, the Nifty has formed a bearish engulfing pattern, indicating that the market is bearish," said Devan Mehata, Equity Research Analyst, Choice Broking.

14 out of the 15 sectoral indices on NSE settled in the red. Sub-indices Nifty Auto, Nifty Consumer Durables, Nifty FMCG, Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Oil & Gas underperformed the Nifty index by falling 1.83 per cent, 1.22 per cent, 1.01 per cent, 1.13 per cent, 0.75 per cent and 0.91 per cent, respectively.

Shares of Home First Finance Company India cracked 7.65 per cent. Aptus Value Housing Finance India slumped 6.94 per cent; while Tata Teleservices moved 5 per cent lower. Shree Renuka Sugars and Mastek fell up to 4.93 per cent. Index heavyweights Reliance, TCS and Infosys declined up to 2.37 per cent.

In addition, some Adani Group stocks also fell today. Adani Enterprises, group's flagship firm, settled 4.24 per cent lower.

On the flipside, Olectra Greentech zoomed 19.36 per cent; while Shilpa Medicare gained 11.99 per cent. RITES jumped 5.74 per cent. Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission, Adani Total Gas, Adani Power, Adani Wilmar, HUDCO and RVNL moved up to 5 per cent higher.

Out of a total of 3,615 stocks that traded during the day, 1,923 settled with cuts while 1,565 others ended higher. The rest 127 stocks stayed unchanged.

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