Reliance Industries, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC and HDFC Bank were among the top drags on the Sensex.
The Indian equity benchmarks fell for third day in a row on Tuesday dragged by losses in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC and HDFC Bank as the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant weighed on investor sentiment globally ahead of a series of central bank meetings this week, including by the US Federal Reserve. The Sensex fell as much as 480 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 17,225.
The Sensex ended 166 points lower at 58,117 and Nifty 50 index declined 43 points to settle at 17,325.
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“The biggest concern that the markets have right now is the spread of the Omicron variant. A lot of information is still unknown,” Saurabh Jain, assistant vice president at SMC Securities told news agency Reuters.
“Also, with several central bank meetings this week, markets want to know what would be the pace of the liquidity tightening even though the Reserve Bank of India is ultra-dovish.”
Among individual stocks, Anand Rathi Wealth opened at a 9 per cent premium in its Mumbai market debut. Drugmaker Lupin Ltd surged 6.2 per cent after its Goa manufacturing plant got the establishment inspection report from the US federal drug regulator.
