Lagatar24 Desk
Mumbai, Jan 18: After opening higher on Tuesday, Indian equity indexes fell, followed by losses in auto, information technology, and pharmaceutical firms. The Nikkei 225 index in Japan declined 0.21 percent, the KOSPI in South Korea sank 0.99 percent, and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 0.34 percent.
Back at home, the 30-share BSE Sensex was down 221 points, or 0.36 percent, at 61,088 at 10:43 a.m., while the broader NSE Nifty was down 77 points, or 0.42 percent, at 18,232.
Mid- and small-cap stocks were under pressure, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index down 0.36 percent and small-cap stocks down 0.74 percent.
On a stock-by-stock basis, Eicher Motors was the highest Nifty loser, falling 3.13 percent to 2,755.40. Among the laggards were Maruti, Tata Consumer Products, UltraTech Cements, and UPL.
Axis Bank, BPCL, HDFC Bank, PowerGrid, and Titan, on the other hand, were among the gainers.
On the BSE, the total market breadth was negative, with 1,277 shares advancing and 1,937 decreasing.
Maruti, UltraTech Cements, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech, and Larsen & Toubro suffered the greatest losses on the 30-share BSE platform, with their shares falling as much as 2.45 percent in late morning trades.
Among the gainers were Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, PowerGrid, Titan, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and ICICI Bank.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 86 points, or 0.14 percent, to close at 61,309, while the wider NSE Nifty rose 52 points, or 0.29 percent, to finish at 18,308.
