China jitters drag indices: Sensex drops 273 pts, Nifty slips below 15,750

The Indian markets dropped for the second consecutive session, along with global equities, as the sell-off in the Chinese markets deepened amid worries over Beijing’s regulatory crackdown.

The Sensex slipped as much as 419 points in intraday, before recouping some of the losses. The 30-share index fell 273 points, or 0.52 per cent, to end at 52,579. The Nifty50 index declined 78 points, or 0.5 per cent, to close at 15,746.  Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) continued with their selling spree, pulling out Rs 1,459 crore worth of shares on Tuesday. Their domestic counterparts provided buying support to the tune of Rs 730 crore.

Market players said the developments in China has promoted several foreign funds to prune their exposure to the entire emerging market (EM) pack. The MSCI EM index fell as much as 1.4 per cent. China and Hong Kong have the biggest weightage in the index.

“Investors are nervous given the selling across the Chinese markets and concerns around the policies of the Chinese authorities and its likely impact on the Indian markets,” said S Ranganathan, head of Research at LKP Securities, adding the developments in China will be positive for India.

Shares of pharma companies, too, saw a major sell-off after Dr Reddy’s June quarter earnings failed to meet expectations and the company said that it has been subpeoned by the US Securities Exchange Commission following an anonymous complaint. The firm’s shares plunged more than 10 per cent.

“Bleeding pharma companies pulled down the market due to a weak start to sector earnings season. It created panic as the sector is priced with high expectations,”said Vinod Nair, Head Of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Overall 19 out of the 30 Sensex stocks ended with losses. Reliance Industries’, which fell 1.13 per cent, pulled the index down by 69 points.

US stocks, too, declined in early trade as investors digested the latest batch of corporate earnings reports and braced for results from tech heavyweights, including Apple and Microsoft. All of the main American equity indexes retreated from all-time closing highs.  Asian stocks hit their lowest this year following the third straight session of selling in Chinese internet giants.

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 2.2 per cent to its lowest level since end-December, having slid 2.45 per cent the previous day. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.49 per cent, however, and Australian shares were up 0.5 per cent.

With agency inputs