Sensex plunges by 500 points, Nifty at 25,300; HCL Tech, Titan, HDFC Bank lead fall

The Indian benchmark indices was in the red, as the BSE Sensex plunged by 500 points, and the NSE Nifty50 was under the 25,300 mark as investors resorted to profit booking in today’s trade.

At the time of reporting, the Sensex was at 82,533, down by 0.57%, and the Nifty settled at 25,293, sliding by 0.51%.

Leading the fall on the Nifty50 index was HCL Tech, which declined by 1.48%, followed by HDFC Bank’s dip of 1.44%. Titan, ICICI Bank, and Infosys too amplified Nifty50’s slide. On the BSE index, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Titan were the top laggards, each dragging by more than 1.3%.

Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports maintained steam as top gainers, with the former rising by 4.78%. Shriram Finance and Asian Paints too advanced by 1% each.

Amongst sectoral indices, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Private Bank were in the deep red, down by 0.80%. Nifty Bank too broke its winning streak of twelve sessions, as investors realized their gains in heavyweights like ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank.

Nifty PSU Bank outperformed its sectoral peers, adding 1.51% to its previous closing. Nifty Energy too rose by 0.63%, as the energy and power arms of the Adani conglomerate saw positive momentum after Sebi gave a clean chit to Gautam Adani-led Adani Group.

Adani Power soared by 12.14%, Adani Total Gas by 10.21%, Adani Green advanced 6%, and Adani Energy Solutions added 5.12%. On the other hand, major laggards in the energy index were Power India (-1.55%), CG Power (-1.12%), and Torrent Power (-1.20%).

The broader markets also showed mixed cues, as the Nifty Next 50, Nifty Midcap 50, and the Nifty Smallcap 50 were trading marginally positive.

The India VIX, the volatility gauge in investor sentiment increased by 1.51%, to 10.04, reflecting the cautioned stance seen in the markets.