INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
ICICI Bank was the top loser in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock fell 1.3 per cent to Rs 689.The Indian equity benchmarks edged
lower on Friday dragged by losses in banking and financial services shares amid mixed trend in other Asian markets as investors globally
turned cautious ahead of a long-awaited speech by Fed Chair Jerome Powell
The Sensex fell as much as 273 points and Nifty 50 index dropped below its important psychological level of 16,600
Infosys, ICICI Bank, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever and Axis Bank were among the top drags on the Sensex.As of 9:40 am, the Sensex was
down 206 points at 55,743 and Nifty 50 index declined 53 points to 16,584.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost
0.1 per cent while Japan's Nikkei shed 0.46 per cent.Overnight, on Wall Street, all three major indexes closed lower, with stocks in
consumer discretionary, technology, financials and consumer staples among the biggest losers.The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.54 per
cent to 35,213.12, the S-P 500 lost 0.58 per cent to 4,469.92 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.64 per cent to 14,945.81.Back home, nine of
15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Bank index's 0.6 per cent decline.Nifty Private
Bank, Financial Services, ITC, FMCG, PSU Bank and Oil - Gas indices also fell between 0.3-0.6 per cent.On the other hand, Nifty Metal,
Pharma, Realty, Healthcare and Media indexes were trading with a positive bias.Mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a flat note as
Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indexes were trading on a flat note.ICICI Bank was the top loser in the Nifty 50 basket of shares,
the stock fell 1.3 per cent to Rs 689
HDFC, IndusInd Bank, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra - Mahindra, Titan, Nestle India, Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank and State Bank of India were
also among the losers.On the flipside, Hindalco, UPL, Bharat Petroleum, Maruti Suzuki, Coal India, Larsen - Toubro, Tata Steel, Grasim
Industries, Adani Ports and JSW Steel were among the top Nifty gainers.The overall market breadth was positive as 1,405 shares were
advancing while 1,144 were declining on the BSE.
