Sensex Drops 345 Points; IT Stocks Weakness

Mumbai, Jul 10 (PTI) Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty buckled under selling pressure on Thursday due to weakness in IT and telecom stocks as investors turned cautious ahead of the start of earnings season, with tech major TCS scheduled to announce its Q1 numbers later in the day.

Tariff-related uncertainty also dampened investor sentiment in the market, traders said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 345.80 points or 0.41 per cent to settle at 83,190.28. During the day, it declined 401.11 points or 0.48 per cent to 83,134.97.

On similar lines, the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 120.85 points or 0.47 per cent to 25,355.25.

A positive momentum in global equities, however, restricted the loss in the domestic markets.

From the Sensex pack, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Infosys, Bharat Electronics, Tech Mahindra and Eternal were major laggards.

However, Maruti, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Trent and Tata Consultancy Services were among the gainers.

An Indian commerce ministry team will soon visit Washington for another round of talks on the proposed trade agreement with the US to iron out differences in sectors, like agriculture and automobiles, a government official said on Thursday.

This visit is significant as the US has further extended the imposition of additional import duties (in the case of India, it is 26 per cent) till August 1. India is seeking the removal of this additional tariff.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Shanghai's SSE Composite Index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled higher, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index ended lower.

European markets were trading mostly higher.

The US markets ended in positive territory on Wednesday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 77 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.27 per cent to USD 70 a barrel.

On Wednesday, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 176.43 points or 0.21 per cent to settle at 83,536.08. The Nifty declined 46.40 points or 0.18 per cent to end at 25,476.10.