The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes fell sharply, breaking their record-breaking streak in trade, on Thursday as traders booked profits at record highs due to expiry of weekly index futures and options contracts. The Sensex fell as much as 712 points from record high of 44,230 and Nifty 50 index ended below 12,800 after hitting an all-time high of 12,963 during the session.
The Sensex fell 580 points to close at 43,600 and Nifty 50 index declined 167 points to settle at 12,772.
Traders booked profits at record highs as volatility spiked owing to weekly expiry of index futures and options contracts, analysts said.
All the 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange, barring the index of FMCG stocks, ended lower, led by the Nifty Bank index’s 2.7 per cent fall. Financial services, information technology, PSU bank and private banking shares faced heavy selling pressure.
Mid- and small-cap shares also faced selling pressure as the Nifty Midcap 100 index declined 0.75 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index fell 0.40 per cent.
Among individual shares, SpiceJet surged as much as 16 per cent after the US aviation regulator lifted a 20-month-old flight ban on Boeing Co’s 737 MAX on Wednesday. SpiceJet has a fleet of eight Boeing 737 MAX planes fleet.
State Bank of India was the top Nifty loser; the stock fell 5 per cent to close at Rs 239.50. ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, JSW Steel, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, Eicher Motors, HDFC Life and Hindalco also fell 2.5-4 per cent each.
On the flip side, Power Grid, ITC, NTPC, Coal India, Tata Steel, Titan and Britannia Industries were among the gainers.
The overall market breadth was negative as 1,436 shares closed lower while 1,322 ended higher on the BSE.
