Sensex falls 254 points, Nifty ends at 17,711; HDFC, Kotak Bank, Asian Paints top losers

Benchmark indices fell for the second straight session today, tracking losses in index majors HDFC twins, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank.

Sensex closed 254.33 points or 0.43 per cent lower at 59,413.27 and Nifty declined 37.30 points or 0.21 per cent to 17,711.30.

HDFC was the top Sensex loser, falling nearly 2 per cent, followed by Kotak Bank, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, HDFC Bank, HUL and Tech Mahindra.

On the other hand, NTPC, PowerGrid, Sun Pharma, SBI and Titan were among the top Sensex gainers, rising up to 6.52 per cent.

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services said the surge in the benchmark US 10-year yield to 1.546 per cent spooked global equity markets, with US benchmarks witnessing cuts of above 2 per cent in S&P 500 and Nasdaq in the previous session.

"It is too early to conclude that this is a trend reversal for markets. But at the present elevated valuations, the risk is high. Investors may watch for consolidation in markets," he noted.

Of 30 Sensex shares, 18 ended lower. However, BSE midcap and small-cap indices rose 154 points and 111 points, respectively.

On the sectoral front, metal and healthcare shares led the gains with the BSE metal index ending 493 points higher at 20,366 and the healthcare index rising 206 points to 25,993.

On the other hand, banking shares were the top losers with the BSE bankex slipping 233 points to 43,154. Market breadth was positive with 1,915 shares ending higher against 1,364 shares closing in the red. 155 stocks were unchanged.

Global markets

Germany's DAX picked up 0.7 per cent to 15,358.67 and the CAC 40 in Paris also added 0.7 per cent, to 6,551.59. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.7 per cent to 7,079.21.

In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 sank 2.1 per cent to 29,544.29 and the Kospi in Seoul dropped 1.2 per cent to 3,060.27. The Shanghai Composite index shed 1.8 per cent to 3,536.29. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gave up 1.1 per cent to 7,196.70.