Benchmark Indices Plunge After Reaching Record High

The Indian equity benchmark Nifty and Sensex declined in the early morning trade. The 30-Share Sensex was down by 0.39% over 106 points while 50-share Nifty was down by 0.38%, about 30 points. This is primarily due to profit booking by the investors after recent gains in the market. However the broader market, BSE mid-cap and small-cap outperformed their counterparts. The mid-cap and small-cap indices were seen trading in green; marginally up by 0.33% and 0.68% respectively. The overall market breadth on BSE was positive as about 1035 shares advanced while 801 shares declined.

Tracking the momentum of the sectoral indices, all the indices were seen trading in red except for healthcare index which was up by 0.31%. The top gainers in the rally were led by Tata power, ICICI Bank, DLF which was up by 2.14%, 1.02% and 0.92% respectively. The shares of Biocon was up by 1.53% after the company agreed to buy a 7.7% stake in its research services business for a unit of GE capital for Rs 215 crore. However the metal stocks were down after the Supreme Court reserved judgement on illegal coal blocks.

Further, a mixed trend was seen in the Asian markets. Japan's Nikkei was up by 0.23%. However Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down by 1.75% and China's Shanghai was seen trading in red, down by 0.64%.