Why Sensex fell over 450 points in early trade

Sensex fell over 450 points in early trade today tracking losses in heavyweights such as Infosys, HDFC and TCS amid a mixed trend in global markets. Sensex lost 477 points intra day to 48,557 against previous close of 49,034.  Nifty too fell 170 points to its intra day low of 14,263 against previous close of 14,433.

On Friday, benchmark indices fell over 1% each amid weak global equities. Sensex ended 549 points to 49,034 and Nifty fell by 161 points lower at 14,433. Information technology shares extended fall for the second straight session today led by loses in Infosys and TCS shares.

Both firms saw profit booking after shares hit record highs buoyed by earnings hopes last week. While Infosys fell 2.89% to Rs 1,306, TCS lost 1.45% to Rs 3,186.

Nifty IT index fell 380 points or 1.44% to  25,982 against previous close of 26,362. Other sectors, which saw profit-booking were healthcare, auto and metal. While BSE healthcare index plunged 437 points to 21,597, BSE auto index lost 483 points to 22,478. The BSE metal index too slumped 453 points to 11,892 against previous close of 12,345.

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IndusInd Bank was the top loser on Sensex, shedding around 3 per cent, followed by PowerGrid, Maruti, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv and ONGC.

On the other hand, HDFC Bank, HCL Tech, SBI, Tech Mahindra and ICICI Bank were among the gainers.

HDFC Bank share rose 2.52% to Rs 1,503 against previous close of Rs 1,466 after the lender reported a 14.36% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 8,760 crore for the December quarter.

Market breadth was negative with 692 shares rising against 2021 falling on BSE. 143 share were unchanged.

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Global markets

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 0.5% to 28,712 while the Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.7% to 3,591 after  Chinese economy grew a solid 2.3% in 2020.

However,  other Asian markets fell on Monday following a retreat on Wall Street. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 dropped 1.1% to 28,211.78 and the Kospi in South Korea lost 0.7% to 3,034.13. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.8% to 6,661.40. Shares also fell in Southeast Asia and Taiwan.

On Friday, S&P 500 fell 0.7% to 3,768, with stocks of companies that most need a healthier economy taking some of the sharpest losses. It lost 1.5% over the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6% to 30,814.26, and the Nasdaq composite dropped 0.9% to 12,998.50. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks lost 1.5% to 2,123.20.

Stocks in news: HCL Tech, InterGlobe Aviation, SpiceJet, Vedanta, Wipro, DHFL, JBM Auto