Sensex declines 0.30 per cent; Nifty down 0.27 per cent; IT stocks record losses

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Amid the concerning market volatility, equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty began the trade in negative territory on Wednesday, tracking losses in IT and services stocks in a volatile session.

As reported by news agency PTI, after a bearish start, the 30-share BSE Sensex further declined 247.92 points, or 0.30 per cent, to 83,203.04.

Nifty 50 dropped by 70.25 points

While the market did not fall down significantly on Wednesday, the 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 70.25 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 25,655.15.

On the other hand, the Sensex constituents Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Adani Ports, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Eternal, Maruti Suzuki India, Asian Paints, Trent, HDFC Bank, IndiGo, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank were the major laggards.

Top gainers

ITC, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Bharat Electronics Ltd, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharmaceutical and Bajaj Finance were the gainers.

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Ltd, said, "The volatility in IT stocks may continue, in response to incoming news relating to the sector. Overall, IT stocks may remain weak since uncertainty surrounding the sector is huge, and large institutional investors are unlikely to invest big time in IT stocks unless valuations become compelling," as cited by PTI.

He added that there can be churns away from IT towards other sectors like banking and financials, automobiles, telecom, pharmaceuticals, etc., where there is good earnings visibility.

Asian markets open in green

On the contrary, in Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 benchmark was trading over 1 per cent higher. Markets in China, Hong Kong, and South Korea remained closed for trading on account of Lunar New Year holidays.

The US equities market ended higher in overnight deals on Tuesday. As reported by news agency PTI, foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 995.21 crore on Tuesday, while domestic institutional investors purchased stocks worth Rs 187.04 crore, according to the exchange data.

Also, brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.22 per cent to USD 67.59 per barrel. On Tuesday, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 173.81 points to close at 83,450.96. The 50-share NSE Nifty advanced 42.65 points to settle at 25,725.40.