Sensex down by 202 points, Nifty drops below 25,200

Mumbai: Indian equity indices closed in the red on Wednesday due to negative global sentiments.

At closing, Sensex was down 202 points, or 0.25 per cent, at 82,352 and Nifty was down 81 points, or 0.32 per cent, at 25,198.

The biggest impact of the decline was seen in banking and IT stocks.

Nifty Bank closed at 51,400, down 288 points or 0.56 per cent, and Nifty IT closed at 42,450, down 400 points or 0.94 per cent.

Apart from this, Auto, PSU Bank, fin service, metal and energy indices were major losers. Pharma, FMCG, realty and media indices closed in the green.

In the Sensex pack, Asian Paints, HUL, UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finserv, Reliance, HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel were the top gainers.

Wipro, M&M, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, Infosys, L&T and TCS were the top losers.

According to experts, the warning signals from weak US manufacturing data added concerns about a potential slowdown in the US economy, which dragged the domestic indices. Further, a sluggish Chinese outlook exacerbated the decline in oil prices to a nine-month low.

Due to a lack of major domestic triggers, the indices will take direction based on global cues, the experts added. The stock market trend was also negative.

On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), at closing,1,916 shares were in green, 2,035 shares closed in red, and 96 shares were unchanged.

The Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 74 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 59,223 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed marginally lower by 4 points at 19,322.

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst of LKP Securities said: "The Nifty broke its upward trend by falling below the trend line on the hourly chart. However, the index found initial support at the historical swing high. Going forward, the index might consolidate between 25,080 and 25,250."

"A drop below 25,080 could trigger further correction towards 24,800-24,750/24,500, while a move beyond 25,236 might induce a rally toward higher levels," he added.