Weakness in IT, financial and oil & gas shares was the main contributor to the fall in headline indices, though strength in metal shares lent some support.
Sahaj Agrawal, Head of Research-Derivatives at Kotak Securities, said the Nifty has broken the momentum support level of 17,900 to test 17,700.
Britannia, Asian Paints, Coal India, Eicher and UltraTech were also among the top gainers.
The 30-scrip index ended 634.2 points or 1.1 percent lower at 59,464.6 and the broader Nifty50 benchmark settled at 17,757, down 181.4 points or one percent from its previous close.
I think the focus remains that India is at the cusp of a slightly longer-term recovery, probably lasting four-five years and if the data continues to prove that, last two quarters we’ve seen record earnings from corporate India, and if that continues to happen, I think both of these events will be shrugged off and the markets will continue the trajectory that it has set for itself.
Bajaj Finserv on Thursday said its consolidated net profits for the quarter ended December declined 2.63 per cent to Rs 1,256 crore from Rs 1,290 crore YoY.
Bank of Maharashtra has reported net profit at Rs 324.6 crore versus Rs 154.1 crore and net interest income was up 16.9 percent at Rs 1,527 crore versus Rs 1,306 crore, YoY.
HCL Technologies has expanded its strategic transformation partnership with AMS OSRAM to digitize one of the optical solutions leader’s key business processes and drive enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management systems standardization across the organization.
The company December quarter net profit declined 56 percent at Rs 14.1 crore versus Rs 32.1 crore, while revenue was up 38.3 percent versus Rs 1,065 crore versus Rs 770 crore, YoY.
AGS Transact Technologies’ initial public offering has got a good response, with the Rs 680-crore issue being subscribed 1.26 times by the afternoon of January 20, the second day of bidding.
The cities to be covered under this ”Grand Challenge” are Bangalore, Delhi, Surat, Hyderabad, and Kolkata in the first phase.
The market’s downfall may be due to the uncertainty around coronavirus and rising inflation,” said Edul Patel, CEO, and Co-founder, Mudrex- A Global Crypto Trading Platform.
The stock of search and discovery firm Just Dial jumped as much as 13.7 percent to Rs 924.5 apiece on BSE as brokerage houses turned positive on the company’s growth initiatives that include adding a transaction layer to its business model.
Banks have reached out to the Reserve Bank of India seeking further relaxations for restructured loan accounts and another extension of the COVID-related recast scheme amid worries of a potential rise in stress due to the third wave of infections.
At 1 pm, shares of PTC India were trading at Rs 21.50, down 4.15 points, or 16.18 percent.
HUL stock corrected a little more than 2 percent, falling to an intraday low of Rs 2262.05 on the BSE.
Shares of Tata Elxsi surged for a second straight day and touched a 52-week high of Rs 7,438 to quote at Rs 7,397.85 on the BSE on Thursday.