The Sensex and Nifty turned negative for 2021 on Wednesday, with the markets seeing a freefall. The Sensex closed 939.38 points down on Wednesday, down by 1.94%. Nifty too was down 1.93%, and closed 275.20 points down, falling below the psychological 14,000-mark and closing at 13,963.70.
Heavy selling pressure was witnessed across sectors, led by banking, finance and oil and gas stocks. Investors also booked their profits ahead of the Budget on February 1.
Weak global cues, selling by foreign institutional investors and mixed Q3 earnings lead to the bear run in the market. It was also aided by Reliance Industries’ lacklustre earnings.
IndusInd Bank, Titan and Axis Bank were the top losers of the day, with both IndusInd and Titan down by over 4%. Banking stocks suffered the most, and were down 2.93% on Wednesday.
On the Nifty, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Tata Steel, GAIL and Titan Company were among those who lost the most.
All BSE sectoral indices ended in the red. In the previous sessions prior to Wednesday, the BSE Sensex had lost 1,444.53 points or 2.90% and the NSE Nifty shed 405.80 points or 2.77%. Also influencing the markets on Wednesday was awaiting the Fed meeting outcome, expected to be announced after its two-day policy meeting.
Analysts said investors of late have preferred taking profits off the table ahead of the Union Budget and F&O expiry. Foreign investors sold equities worth Rs 765.30 crore on a net basis in the Indian capital market on Monday, exchange data showed. Indian equity markets were closed on Tuesday for the Republic Day.
Elsewhere in Asia on Wednesday, stocks were mixed as investors turned cautious after Wall Street slipped from record levels.
"Barring defensive FMCG segment, all sectors traded in the red zone with banking and pharma stocks being the worst hit. The global markets were mixed today ahead of the US Fed meeting amid uncertainty over the US stimulus. We should expect higher volatility in the coming days' given pre-budget event risk," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.