Stock investors resort to offload on easing steam

Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex tumbled 1,053 points to close below the 71,000 level on Tuesday, dragged down by index heavyweights HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and SBI amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Concerns over subdued quarterly performance by corporates triggered selling pressure in most of the counters, according to traders. After opening with gains of nearly 450 points, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 1,053.10 points or 1.47 per cent to settle at 70,370.55. The index hit the lowest intraday level of 70,234.55. It also touched an intraday high of 72,039.20. Broader Nifty also declined 330.15 points or 1.53 per cent to close at 21,241.65.

“The market witnessed a continuous decline today, abruptly turning negative despite a positive start, mainly due to substantial selling in heavyweight sectors, particularly finance. Selling by FIIs due to reasons like high valuation and mixed results for the earnings season so far, along with recent escalations in tensions in the Middle East and the Red Sea, prompted the investors to book profit from the recent rally. Going forward, markets are likely to witness stock-specific actions during the ongoing earnings season,” said Vinod Nair, Head (Research), Geojit Financial Services. Among the Sensex firms, IndusInd Bank was the biggest loser and fell 6.13 per cent, followed by SBI (3.99 pc), Hindustan Unilever (3.82 pc), Axis Bank (3.41 pc) and HDFC Bank (3.23 pc). In contrast, Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and PowerGrid defied the trend and closed with gains of up to 3.67 per cent. TCS and Bajaj Finserve were the other gainers.