The benchmark Sensex is trading deep in the red for the third consecutive session. The Sensex had lost 656 points and 554 points in the previous two trading sessions, respectively

Mumbai:

The Indian equities markets key indices tumbled for the third straight day on Thursday dragged by heavy selling pressure in IT, financial and energy stocks. The 30 stock S&P BSE Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange was trading at 59,582.20 points at 11.12 am, which is 516.62 points or 0.86 per cent lower from its previous day’s close at 60,098.82 points.

The benchmark Sensex is trading deep in the red for the third consecutive session. The Sensex had lost 656 points and 554 points in the previous two trading sessions, respectively.

The Sensex started the Thursday trade marginally down at 60,045.48 points, which also remains the highest level for the day. The index slumped to a low of 59,565.94 points.

The broader Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange was trading at 17,839.30 points, which is 0.55 per cent or 99.10 points down from its previous day’s close at 17,938.40 points. The Nifty slumped to a low of 17,817.65 points in the morning trade after opening in the positive at 17,921.00 points.

IT stocks witnessed heavy selling pressure for the third straight day. Infosys tumbled 1.94 per cent to Rs 1831.50. HCL Technologies slumped 1.70 per cent to Rs 1178.75. TCS fell 1.09 per cent to Rs 3873.

Other major Sensex losers included: HDFC 2.03 per cent down at Rs 2565.50; Bajaj Finserv 1.77 per cent down at Rs 17767; Reliance Industries 1.67 per cent down at Rs 2479.35; Dr Reddy Laboratories 1.19 per cent down at Rs 4633.40 and Sun Pharma 1.10 per cent down at Rs 828.80.

Only 11 of the 30 scrips that are part of the Sensex were trading in the positive. Power Grid Corporation surged 3.47 per cent to Rs 211.75. UltraTech Cement 1.23 per cent higher at Rs 7518.65; Tata Steel 1.16 per cent higher at Rs 1222.80; Maruti Suzuki 1.09 per cent higher at Rs 8095.70 and Bharti Airtel 0.76 per cent higher at Rs 709.40 were among the major Sensex gainers.

Investors’ wealth had eroded by Rs 5.24 trillion in last two days as markets saw a hectic sell-off on Wednesday as well.

The BSE Sensex plunged 656.04 points or 1.08 per cent to settle at 60,098.82. The 30-share index had tanked 554.05 points or 0.90 per cent on Tuesday.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies tumbled by Rs 5,24,647.66 crore to Rs 2,74,77,790.05 crore in two days till Wednesday.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms had reached a lifetime high of Rs 2,80,02,437.71 crore on Monday.