Nifty snaps longest winning streak on record on weak global cues

The National Stock Exchange benchmark Nifty 50 index snapped its 14-day winning streak, the longest spell of gains since inception, on Wednesday on the back of weak global cues. The NSE Nifty 50 index fell as much as 196 points to hit an intraday low of 25,083.80 and Sensex dropped as much as 721.75 points.

The Sensex ended 203 points lower at 82,352.64 and Nifty 50 index declined 81 points to close at 25,198.70.

A gauge of emerging market equities hit three-week lows on Wednesday as stocks sold off amid brewing global growth concerns, with chip stocks the worst hit following US firm Nvidia's sharp drop in the last session.

MSCI's index for emerging market stocks shed 1.6 per cent, hitting its lowest level since August 15, while a gauge for currencies was flat.

Chips-heavy bourses in South Korea and Taiwan slid 3.2 per cent and 4.5 per cent, respectively, tracking a more than 9 per cent drop in AI-bellwether Nvidia overnight, the deepest ever single-day decline in market value for a US company.

US equities slumped in the previous session as sentiment remained weak after Institute for Supply Management data showed US manufacturing remained subdued despite a modest improvement in August from an eight-month low in July.

Back home, selling pressure was broad based as nine of 13 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty PSU Bank index's 1.71 per cent fall. Nifty IT, metal, private bank, bank and financial services indices also fell between 0.4-0.9 per cent.

On the other hand, defensive FMCG, pharma and healthcare shares witnessed buying interest.

Mid- and small-cap shares ended on a muted note as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.1 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 100 index ended largely unchanged.

Among the individual shares, ECOS (India) Mobility & Hospitality made a strong debut on the bourses, with its listing on September 4 at Rs 391 per share-17 per cent over the issue price of Rs 334 per share.

Wipro was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 3 per cent to Rs 519.65. Coal India, ONGC, Hindalco, LTI Mindtree, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs and Larsen & Toubro also fell between 1-2.8 per cent.

On the flipside, Asian Paints, Grasim, Hindustan Unilever, Ultratech Cement, Sun Pharma, Apollo Hospitals and Divi's Labs were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was marginally negative as 2,037 shares ended lower while 1,914 closed higher on the BSE.

(With Reuters inputs)