Sensex falls 189 points on weak global cues, Yes Bank plunges 7 pc on Moody's negative outlook

Equity benchmark indices traded with a negative bias on Wednesday amid weak domestic and global cues with heavy selling pressure witnessed in metal and automobile stocks.

The BSE S & P Sensex closed 189 points or 0.5 per cent lower at 37,452 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 59 points to 11,046.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), most sectoral indices were in the red with Nifty metal down by 3.3 per cent, auto by 1.8 per cent, private banks by 1.4 per cent and pharma by 0.9 per cent. However, Nifty realty gained by 2.4 per cent and IT by 1.3 per cent.

Among stocks, private lender Yes Bank tumbled by 7.13 per cent to close at Rs 59.90 per share after Moody's Investors Service downgraded its long-term foreign-currency issuer rating to Ba3 from Ba1.

Kalpataru Power Transmission was down by 5.3 per cent after the company said that the World Bank had issued it a notice over alleged irregularities in its Africa business.

Metal stocks were in the red with Tata Steel down by 4.3 per cent, JSW Steel by 3.8 per cent and Vedanta by 3.7 per cent. Auto majors Tata Motors slipped by 3 per cent, Maruti by 2.6 per cent and Mahindra & Mahindra by 2.4 per cent.

However, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Bharti Infratel, and Eicher Motors gained between 1.9 and 2.7 per cent each.

The overall market sentiment was weak as India Ratings cuts FY20 GDP forecast to a six-year low at 6.7 per cent as compared to the earlier estimates of 7.3 per cent.

It said last week's stimulus package by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is unlikely to revive growth and may only offer support in the medium term.

Meanwhile, Asian shares witnessed cautious gains as deeper worries about the global economy and trade kept a lid on investor sentiment.

Japan's Nikkei rose by 0.11 per cent and Korea's KOSPI by 0.86 per cent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.06 per cent due to lower Chinese markets. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped by nearly 0.2 per cent.

Market experts say the trade dispute between the United States and China -- now in its second year -- is straining the global economy, forcing policymakers to respond with interest rate cuts and stimulus measures to bolster growth.