Sensex Falls 496 Pts, Nifty Below 18,300

The Indian equity markets snapped their winning streak and ended lower dragged by Metal and Pharma stocks. The broader markets on the other hand continued to underperform for the second day in a row, experts have also raised concerns as the sell-off in the broader markets can hurt the overall sentiment.

The BSE Sensex ended the day's session at 61,259.96, down 456.09 points, and the Nifty-50 fell 152.15 points to close at 18,266.60. Only seven out of 30 scrips in the Sensex pack ended in the green, while 27 counters witnessed selling pressure. Shares of Titan Company, HUL, and Bajaj Finserv were the top index losers, down more than two per cent each. However, on the flipside, Bharti Airtel jumped over four per cent, and SBI gained more than two per cent in the day's trade.

Sell-off in the broader markets was dampened the market sentiment much in the session on Wednesday, experts said. The BSE Midcap closed lower by 1.9 per cent, while the BSE Smallcap index closed down 2.3 per cent. Shares of IRCTC, Tata Motors, Tata Power have corrected sharply in the last two trading sessions. Experts have suggested investors to trade cautiously at current levels.

Yash Gupta, Equity Research Analyst, Angel One, said, "We suggest retail investors be cautious and avoid buying on dips kind of strategies, as we are seeing selling pressure in the broader market."

Among the sectors, barring PSU Banks and Media, all other sectors ended in the red due to broad based selling across the board. Falling more than two per cent, the Metal sector was the worst hit dragged by shares of NALCO(-4.03 per cent), Vedanta(-3.99 per cent), and Hindalco(-3.90 per cent). On the flipside, PSU Banks surged in the day's trade amid volatility across the board.

Technical experts are of a view that markets can correct more in the upcoming sessions, however, it is mainly due to a strong rally witnessed in the last seven sessions.

Speaking on the technical aspect of the NSE index, Ashis Biswas, Head of Technical Research, CapitalVia Global Research, said, "Research suggests that 18200 will be an important support zone for the market to stay positive in the short term. If the market is unable to sustain the level of 18200, It can witness the correction would continue till the level of 17950-18000."

Overall in the market breadth today, around 1502 shares declined and 331 shares advanced in the NSE.