Sensex falls over 200 points, Nifty tests 21,700; Privi Speciality, IndiaMART down up to 5%

Indian equity benchmarks took a breather from their record run and cooled in Friday's trade, which is the last session of the calendar year 2023. The indices slipped today as energy, metals and technology stocks dragged. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack fell 230 points or 0.32 per cent to trade at 72,180, while the broader NSE Nifty index moved 68 points or 0.31 per cent down to trade at 21,711.

Mid- and small-cap shares were down as well as Nifty Midcap 100 shed 0.10 per cent and small-cap lost 0.14 per cent. India VIX, fear index, rose 1.73 per cent to 15.35-level.

On the global front, Asian markets opened little changed. Overnight, Wall Street equities closed higher. 

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought Indian shares on a net basis during the previous session, purchasing Rs 4,358.99 crore and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) picked up shares worth Rs 136.64 crore.

13 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the red today. Sub-indexes Nifty Oil & Gas, Nifty Metal and Nifty IT were underperforming the NSE platform by falling as much as 0.79 per cent, 0.53 per cent and 0.51 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) was the top loser in the Nifty pack as the stock cracked 2.69 per cent to trade at Rs 453.25. Apollo Hospitals, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ONGC and PowerGrid fell up to 1.16 per cent.

In contrast, Tata Consumer Products, Tata Motors, Nestle, Maruti and Eicher Motors were among the top gainers.

However, the overall market breadth was strong as 1,475 shares were advancing while 1,117 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, frontline stocks such as Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, Titan and Bajaj Finance were among the top laggards.

Also, shares of Privi Speciality Chemicals Ltd, IndiaMART InterMESH, Jyothy Labs Ltd, BPCL and HPCL fell up to 4.52 per cent.

On the flipside, Kalpataru Projects International Ltd, Tata Coffee, Zydus Wellness, Hindustan Zinc and Tata Consumer Products surged up to 9.19 per cent.

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