Sensex drops over 500 pts, Nifty 150 pts; 42 stocks in Nifty 50 decline

Nifty 50 Index slipped for the third consecutive session trading 600 points lower at noon on Wednesday. Forty-two of the Nifty 50 basket were trading with losses. Adani Enterprises, Bajaj Finance, BPCL, and Eicher Motors were the top losers, down 2.3 per cent to 6.2  per cent.

A look at the Indian equity benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 showed lower trading extending initial losses. Financial and oil and gas shares led the indices lower. Barring healthcare shares, all Nifty 50 sectoral indices were trading in the red around noon. Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, and Bajaj Finance were among the top losers, while Bajaj Auto, Britannia, and Tata Consumer, were up 0.3 to 0.9 per cent, making them the top index gainers.

In the morning trade, the Nifty hit levels below 17,700 while the Sensex fell more than 550 points. From Tuesday's level of Rs 265.21 lakh crore, the BSE market capitalization decreased by Rs 2.79 lakh crore to Rs 262.41 lakh crore.

Market observers noted that the US Federal Reserve's ability to continue raising interest rates for a lengthy period of time had created concerns, and Wednesday, marked the fourth consecutive day of decline for domestic markets. “Early this morning, shares in Asia were struck by a severe selloff on Wall Street, which negatively impacted the mood at home,” they said.

The levels between 17800 and 17700 had been identified by analysts as a sacred support zone. Today's intraday range was violated, and the Nifty fell as low as 17,652.60. On the other hand, the range of 17,900-18,000 was perceived as a challenging obstacle. NIFTY 50 indices are computed based on a float-adjusted and market capitalisation weighted method. In this method, the level of the index demonstrates the aggregate market value of stocks present in the index in a specific base period.

According to Sameet Chavan of Angel One, any widespread rise required the index to decisively surpass the range. "Prices have been in a phase of consolidation for the entirety of February, and shortly they might be freed. Traders are watching for any triggers as important international events are scheduled," Chavan said.