ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank Push Sensex Down; check what weighs on investor confidence

Of 30 Sensex stocks, 24 scrips were trading in green with ONGC and State Bank of India as the main laggards of the index

In addition to losses from the previous session, BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 fell nearly 1 percent on Wednesday, following a strong selloff in US markets led by tech stocks. At 10 a.m., the 30-share Sensex was trading 267 points or 0.70 percent lower at 38.097, while the NSE’s Nifty also broke the 11,250 level to the downside and was ruling at 11,235. In night trading, Tesla shares suffered their biggest daily percentage drop of 20%. Markets generally underperformed equity benchmarks today. The BSE MidCap Index fell 1.33 percent or 192 points to trade at 14,290, while the BSE SmallCap Index fell 1.72 percent or 248 points at 14,189. Except for Nifty Pharma, all industry indices were in negative territory.

AstraZeneca Pharma 12% tanks: The major drugmaker fell 12 percent to Rs 3,650 each in BSE after reporting that the company has halted the coronavirus vaccine trial to examine a potentially unexplained illness in a recipient.

Silver Lake RIL Bags Investment in Reliance Retail: Reliance Industries Limited and Reliance Retail Ventures Limited announced Wednesday morning that Silver Lake will invest 7.5 billion rupees in Reliance Retail. This investment valued Reliance Retail at a pre-money capital value of Rs 4.21 lakh crore. This investment will result in a 1.75 percent equity interest in the retail company on a fully diluted basis.

BSE Sensex Top Losers: Out of 30 Sensex shares, 24 scrips were trading green with ONGC and State Bank of India as the main laggards of the index. Bajaj Finserv, ITC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among other losers.

Asian Paints jumps 1.5%: Only seven stocks were trading in positive territory on the BSE Sensex. Shares of Asian Paints were up 1.46 percent, followed by Nestlé India, which was up nearly 1 percent. Other winners were L&T, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank, RIL, and Bharti Airtel.

Global markets: In night trading on Wall Street, US stock indices closed lower for the third consecutive trading session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.25%, the S&P 500 lost 2.78% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 4.11%. Tesla Inc sank 20 percent after its delisting from the S&P 500 Index. Asian stock markets were trading deep in the red, dragged down by tech stocks. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.14% while the Topix index fell 1.13%.