Sensex falls 305 pts, Nifty gives up 17,250; Paytm slides 4%, HDFC 2%

Selling in auto, financials and select heavyweights such as Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Asian Paints, and Sun Pharma, weighed on the market sentiment on Wednesday even as global markets remained mixed.

The S&P BSE Sensex erased early gains and settled 304.5 points, or 0.5 per cent, lower at 57,685. On the NSE, the Nifty50 closed at 17,246, down 70 points or 0.4 per cent. 

HDFC, Kotak Bank, Bharti Airtel, Cipla, Britannia, Sun Pharma, Maruti, and Bajaj Auto were the major drags today, falling between 1.5 per cent and 2.4 per cent. On the contrary, Divis Labs, Hindalco, Dr Reddy's Labs, and Tata Steel rose over 2 per cent each.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index closed 0.4 per cent higher while the BSE SmallCap index slipped 0.2 per cent.

Among individual shares, One97 Communications, the parent company of digital payments major Paytm, hit a new low of Rs 520, down over 4 per cent on the BSE in Wednesday's intra-day trade. The stock fell despite the company's clarifications to exchanges that its business fundamentals remain robust. READ MORE

On the flipside, shares of Indian Hotels Company rose 6 per cent to Rs 221 on the BSE in Wednesday's intra-day trade after the Tata Group company announced that its qualified institutional placement (QIP) committee has approved the QIP issue on March 22, 2022. READ MORE

Meanwhile, shares of steel companies surged after reports emerged that India's top steelmakers have hiked prices of rebar and HRC (Hot Rolled Coil) by Rs 1,500-Rs 2,000 a tonne due to inflated raw material cost. Shares of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) gained 4 per cent, while Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) hit a 52-week high. READ MORE

Among sectors, the Nifty Metal index gained the most today, up 1.2 per cent. The Nifty Auto index, on the other hand, slipped 1 per cent.

Overall, over 1,900 stocks ended in the negative zone on the BSE as against 1,463 stocks that settled in the green. BSE M-cap stood at Rs 259.9 trillion at the end of the session.

Global markets
European stocks were little changed on Wednesday as global markets continued to assess inflation concerns and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

The pan-European Stoxx 600 hovered around the flatline in early trade, while Germany's DAX slipped 0.27 per cent and France's CAC40 was down 0.22 per cent.

On Wall Street, Dow Jones and S&P500 futures declined 0.3 per cent each, and Nasdaq Composite's Futures shed 0.4 per cent.

Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei closed 3 per cent higher on stimulus hopes. Main indices in South Korea, Australia, and Hong Kong advanced in the range of 0.5 per cent to 1.2 per cent.