Sensex Drops Over 200 Points in Early Trade; Nifty Tests 15,700

Mumbai, Jul 20: Equity benchmark Sensex tumbled over 200 points in early trade on Tuesday, tracking losses in HDFC twins, ICICI Bank and HCL Tech amid intense selloff in global markets.

The 30-share BSE index was trading 201.61 points or 0.38 per cent lower at 52,351.79 in initial deals, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 58.45 points or 0.37 per cent to 15,693.95.

HCL Tech was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding over 2 per cent, followed by HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, M&M, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.

On the other hand, UltraTech Cement, Asian Paints, PowerGrid and Nestle India were among the gainers.

In the previous session, Sensex tumbled 586.66 points or 1.10 per cent to close at 52,553.40, and Nifty slumped 171 points or 1.07 per cent to 15,752.40.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,198.71 crore on Monday, as per provisional exchange data.

The 725 points cut in the Dow on Monday - the worst in 2021 - is a reflection of the risk-off in markets globally, said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

"Different reasons are attributed to this correction: The rising COVID cases in the US and the UK due to the delta variant, inflation concerns, and concerns about growth coming below consensus expectations.

"It may be all these. The fact is that at high valuations when investors are sitting on big profits, any fear can trigger profit booking and corrections," he stated.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo were trading with heavy losses in mid-session deals.

Equities on Wall Street too ended with massive losses in overnight sessions.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude advanced 0.16 per cent to USD 68.73 per barrel.

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