Opening Bell: Sensex Drops Over 200 Points, Nifty Tests 12,200

Market benchmark Sensex dropped over 200 points on Tuesday led by losses in index-heavyweights HDFC twins, Kotak Bank and ITC amid weak global cues. After hitting an intra-day low of 41,301.63, the 30-share BSE index pared losses to trade 86.90 points or 0.21 per cent lower at 41,442.01.

Similarly, the broader NSE was trading 18.90 points, or 0.15 per cent, lower at 12,205.65.

Kotak Bank was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, shedding up to 1.25 per cent, followed by Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, HDFC duo, PowerGrid and Titan.

On the other hand, Reliance Industries, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, SBI, ICICI Bank, ONGC and HCL Tech were trading on a positive note.

According to traders, domestic investors turned wary amid subdued quarterly results by key index constituents and negative cues from global markets.

IMF lowers India’s economic growth

Further, market sentiment was also hit after the IMF on Monday lowered India’s economic growth estimate for the current fiscal to 4.8 per cent and listed the country’s much lower-than-expected GDP numbers as the single biggest drag on its global growth forecast for two years.

In October, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had pegged India economic growth at 6.1 per cent for 2019.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were trading significantly lower in their early sessions.

Brent crude oil futures eased 0.48 per cent to USD 64.89 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the rupee depreciated 6 paise to 71.06 against the US dollar in morning session.

In the previous session, Sensex settled 416.46 points, or 0.99 per cent, lower at 41,528.91, and the Nifty sank 127.80 points, or 1.03 per cent, to 12,224.55.

Meanwhile, on a net basis, foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 5.87 crore, while domestic institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 1,419.85 crore on Monday, data available with stock exchanges showed.