An evening walk down Dalal Street | Bearish momentum continues as Sensex cracks 377 pts, Nifty breaches 10,700

A drag in index heavyweights, selling in banks along with weakness in metals and pharmaceuticals ensured that bears went home victorious on Thursday. The Nifty gave up 10,700-mark.

Amid an all-round sell-off among sectors, financials, automobiles, and metals bled, while investors also dumped in the midcaps space.

Globally, traders were cautious about slowdown worries in the US and China and that reflected in the movement of markets as well.

Upward direction of crude prices along with a weaker rupee made investors wary of markets in general.

All of this added to the volatility on the market.

At the close of market hours, the Sensex was down 377.81 points or 1.05% at 35513.71, and the Nifty lower by 120.20 points or 1.11% at 10672.30. The market breadth was negative as 962 shares advanced, against a decline of 1,588 shares, while 151 shares were unchanged.

Asian Paints, HUL, and Bharti Infratel were the top gainers, while ONGC, M&M, IOC and Eicher Motors lost the most.

Stocks in News

Eicher Motors continued to decline for second consecutive session, with the stock emerging as top loser on the Nifty. The stock ended 4 percent lower.

Shares of Tata Power gained nearly 2 percent in the early trade, but ended a percent lower after BEST extended an existing PPA with company.

Share price of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) fell more than 2 percent after foreign research house HSBC cut target price to Rs 1,580 from Rs 1,660 per share. However, it maintained buy rating on the stock.

Dena Bank plunged nearly 20 percent and Vijaya Bank dropped nearly 7 percent after a share swap ratio was announced with respect to its merger with Bank of Baroda.

Global Markets

European markets fell when fears of global slowdown intensified after Apple cut its guidance on revenues. The Stoxx 600 index fell 0.64 percent.

In Asia, stocks were mostly lower following weak handover from Wall Street and Apple’s forecast. South Korea's Kospi fell 0.81 percent. The Hang Seng index gave up earlier gains to slip 0.22 percent.