Sensex down by over 400 points on dismal macro data, PSU bank and auto stocks in the red

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices were in the negative zone during early hours on Tuesday in line with global cues while investors remained cautious after the government last week reported 5 per cent GDP growth during the first fiscal quarter of April to June. At 10.15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 421 points or 1.1 per cent at 36,912 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 118 points to 10,905.

At the National Stock Exchange, all sectoral indices except for Nifty IT and pharma were in the red. Nifty PSU bank was down by over 2 per cent, financial services by 1.4 per cent and metal by 1 per cent. Among stocks, Indian Oil Corporation dropped by 3.4 per cent, Tata Motors by 2.7 per cent, Ultratech Cement by 2.6 per cent and ICICI Bank by 2.4 per cent.

The other prominent losers were Bharat Petroleum Corporation, ONGC, Eicher Motors and HDFC. However, IT stocks like Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys showed some gains. Meanwhile, Asian stocks continued their downward slide after the United States and China imposed new tariffs on each other`s goods.

Hong Kong`s Hang Seng was down by 0.1 per cent after anti-government protests. The Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.05 per cent but Japan`s Nikkei moved up marginally by 0.09 per cent.