Markets pare early gains; Sensex, Nifty drop 1 pc

Mumbai: Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty gave up early gains and ended lower by 1 per cent on Wednesday amid a largely weak trend in Asian markets and sell-off in index majors Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and HDFC twins.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex tumbled 635.05 points or 1.03 per cent to settle at 61,067.24. During the day, it slumped 763.91 points or 1.23 per cent to 60,938.38.

The broader NSE Nifty declined 186.20 points or 1.01 per cent to end at 18,199.10.

From the Sensex pack, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti, UltraTech Cement, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, State Bank of India and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major laggards.

Sun Pharma, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, Nestle, Wipro and Infosys ended in the green.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai ended lower, while Hong Kong logged gains.

Equity exchanges in Europe were trading in the positive territory in mid-session deals. The US markets had ended higher on Tuesday.

Benchmark indices dropped yet again on the back of COVID scare in China and elsewhere, said S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities.

International oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.08 per cent to USD 80.85 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 455.94 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.