Sensex drops by over 200 points to 60,546 in opening trade; Nifty at 18,028

Equity benchmark Sensex declined by more than 200 points in opening trade on Wednesday due to losses in IT and banking shares amid weak global trends.

The 30-share barometer dropped by 208.38 points or 0.34 per cent to 60,546.48 in opening trade.

The broader NSE Nifty declined by 84.95 points or 0.47 per cent to 18,028.10 as 38 of its constituents were trading in the red.

Among major Sensex losers, Infosys dropped by 1.7 per cent, Wipro by 1.41 per cent, Tech Mahindra by 1.07 per cent, TCS by 0.77 per cent and HCL Tech by 1.09 per cent, in line with a global fall in technology stocks.

Among banking stocks, IndusInd Bank declined by 1.33 per cent, while HDFC twins fell up to 0.8 per cent.

On the other hand, auto stocks Maruti Suzuki and M&M rose by more than 1 per cent. Bajaj Finance rose by 3.34 per cent and Bajaj Finserve by more than 1 per cent.

Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Power Grid and Titan also advanced, limiting the losses in the key index.

Foreign investors remained net sellers in the Indian equity markets as they offloaded stocks worth ₹1,254.95 crore on Tuesday, according to stock exchange data.

Asian markets were trading lower after a broad sell-off on Wall Street on Tuesday as bond yields surged amid renewed fears that the US Federal Reserve will act more aggressively than expected to tackle rising inflation.

The S&P 500 dropped by 1.8 per cent, Dow Jones fell 1.5 per cent and the Nasdaq plunged by 2.6 per cent, due to deep losses in technology stocks.

Experts said increased expectations of a rate hike by the US Fed have kept Treasury yields rising. The 10-year Treasury hit 1.87 per cent on Tuesday, the highest since January 2020.