Sensex Plunges 800, Nifty Near 17,500; Infosys Down 2%

Sensex Today: Indian markets had a gap down beginning on Thursday morning amid weak global sentiments. Frontline indices Nifty50 opened over 200 points lower to trade below 17,550 levels, while the S&P BSE Sensex declined over 800 points to trade at 58,734 levels.

Broader markets, too, declined in tandem as Nifty Smallcap 100 and Nifty Midcap 100 slipped up to 0.5 per cent.

Barring Nifty Realty, all sectoral indices dropped in negative territory. Nifty IT and Nifty Bank faced the worst brunt as both the indices dropped over 1 per cent each.

While Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv, Ultratech Cement, and IndusInd Bank helped trim losses for the benchmark indices; Infosys, TCS, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank contributed to the sharp cuts.

Among individual stocks, shares of Ashok Leyland hit 52-week high of Rs 159 per share after the automaker bagged mega order for 1,400 school buses in UAE.

Besides, shares of Biocon hit 52-week low at Rs 297 per share after the pharma major received 11 observations from the US health regulator.

Tirthankar Das, Technical & Derivative Analyst, Retail, Ashika Stock Broking Ltd., said: “On the technical front, Nifty formed a strong bullish candle on the daily time frame and crossed above all crucial short term and long-term averages indicating of a bullish overtone which is likely to prompt another round of rally in the near term. On the oscillator front too, the 14-period RSI has gained a bullish momentum sustaining above the trend deciding level of 60. Though one need to avoid trading aggressively amid global nervousness. Considering the present situation, a bare minimum correction of 38.6% of the entire rally from 15,183 to 17,992 comes around 16900 followed by 50% correction at 16600. On the upside present setup indicates that Nifty can move towards 17,992 followed by 18,114 in the coming days with immediate support stands at 17,350 and Index need to sustain above the said level  with some authority for the bulls to strengthen their stance.”

Global Cues

Asian stocks slid and the dollar spiked on Thursday as investors greeted September by selling everything that was not nailed down after a month battered by concerns about aggressive rate hikes from global policymakers.

Tokyo stocks opened lower Thursday extending US losses, with fears growing among investors that there will be no respite from Federal Reserve rate hikes aimed at tamping down inflation. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 1.04 percent, or 291.67 points, at 27,799.86 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.80 percent, or 15.76 points, to 1,947.40.

US stocks ended the month with their fourth straight daily decline on Wednesday, cementing the weakest August performance in seven years as worries about aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve persist.

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