Lagatar24 Desk
Mumbai, Jan 20: The Indian equity benchmarks began the day in the red on Thursday, dragged down by losses in information technology stocks. As China reinforced its contrasting monetary and economic outlook by slashing benchmark mortgage rates, Asian stocks moved higher, bucking overnight losses in Europe and on Wall Street.
Back at home, the 30-share BSE Sensex was down 275 points, or 0.46 percent, at 59,824 at 9:27 a.m., while the broader NSE Nifty was down 71 points, or 0.40 percent, at 17,867. Mid- and small-cap stocks were mixed, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index down 0.18 percent and small-cap stocks up 0.23 percent.
On a stock-by-stock basis, Infosys was the highest Nifty loser, falling 1.55 per cent to 1,838.15. The laggards included Tech Mahindra, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries, and ONGC.
Tata Consumer Products, PowerGrid, Coal India, Grasim Industries, and Hero MotoCorp, on the other hand, were among the winners.
On the BSE, the overall market breadth was positive, with 1,538 shares rising and 1,147 falling.
Infosys, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Asian Paints, Wipro, Reliance Industries, and TCS suffered the greatest losses on the 30-share BSE platform, with their shares falling as much as 1.83 percent.
Among the winners were PowerGrid, UltraTech Cements, Tata Steel, ITC, Bharti Airtel, and Axis Bank.
On Wednesday, the Sensex fell 656 points, or 1.08 percent, to close at 60,099, while the NSE Nifty fell 175 points, or 0.96 percent, to 17,938.
