Equity benchmark indices began Wednesday’s session in the red, weighed down by losses in ITC shares following reports of a partial stake sale by its largest shareholder, British American Tobacco (BAT).
The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 200.32 points to 81,351.31 in early trade, while the NSE Nifty shed 61.2 points to 24,765.
Among the laggards on the Sensex were ITC, IndusInd Bank, Nestlé India, Titan, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries and Maruti Suzuki. ITC fell over 3 per cent amid reports that BAT is preparing to dilute a 2.3 per cent stake in the diversified conglomerate through the block deal route.
Commenting on the development, V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, noted, “BAT’s decision to sell 2.3 per cent stake in ITC will keep the stock subdued.”
Conversely, Infosys, Eterna, Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and Tata Consultancy Services were among the gainers in early trade.
Also read: Terrible Tuesday for stock markets
Asian markets showed mixed cues. South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225 and the Shanghai Composite were trading in positive territory, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index quoted marginally lower.
On Wall Street, indices surged overnight. The Nasdaq Composite rose 2.47 per cent, the S&P 500 climbed 2.05 per cent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 1.78 per cent, buoyed by strong macroeconomic data and corporate earnings.
Meanwhile, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹348.45 crore on Tuesday, according to provisional data from the exchanges.
In commodities, the global oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.37 per cent to USD 64.33 per barrel.
On Tuesday, the Sensex had settled 624.82 points lower at 81,551.63, while the Nifty dropped 174.95 points to end at 24,826.20.
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