Sensex Falls Over 350 Points, Nifty Trades Below 16,600; GDP Data In Focus

Indian equity benchmarks on Tuesday traded lower in opening deals ahead of the gross domestic product (GDP) numbers for the quarter ending March 31, 2022. Asian stocks fell after a hot inflation reading in Germany heightened fears of looming interest rate hikes.

Trends on the Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange (SGX Nifty) indicated a gap-down start for the domestic indices.

The Q4 GDP data is due at 5:30 pm today.

The 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 359 points or 0.64 per cent to 55,566, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 92 points or 0.55 per cent up to trade at 16,570.

Mid- and small-cap shares were trading slightly positive as Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.17 per cent and small-cap edged 0.10 per cent higher.

10 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty IT and Nifty Financial Services were underperforming the NSE platform by falling as much as 1.15 per cent and 0.85 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Sun Pharma was the top loser as the stock cracked 2.09 per cent to Rs 869.75. Titan, HCL Tech, TCS and Kotak Mahindra Bank were also among the losers.

The overall market breadth was weak as 1,303 shares were advancing while 1,130 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, Infosys, Titan, HDFC, Sun Pharma, HCL Tech, Bajaj Finance, TCS, Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Wipro, Hindustan Unilever and Bharti Airtel were among the top laggards.

In contrast, M&M, PowerGrid, Tata Steel, Maruti and NTPC were trading in the green.

Sensex had zoomed 1,041 points or 1.90 per cent to close at 55,926 on Monday, while Nifty had moved 309 points or 1.89 per cent up to settle at 16,661.