The Sensex fell over 214 points in early trade on Thursday, as equity benchmarks ended their rally in response to weak global market trends.

In early trading, the Sensex fell 214.11 points to 60,046.02. The Nifty fell 61.85 points to 17,882.40.

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The Sensex pack’s biggest underperformers included Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Sun Pharma, Wipro, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv, and Nestle.

Power Grid, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement, and Kotak Mahindra Bank, on the other hand, were among the gainers.

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The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 2347.22 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 510.23 crore in the Indian equity market on August 17, as per provisional data available on the NSE.  

Balrampur Chini Mills, Tata Chemicals Limited and Delta Corp are the stocks/securities that have been placed on the National Stock Exchange’s futures and options (F&O) ban for trade on Thursday, August 18, 2022.

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In Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading lower in mid-session deals. Markets on Wall Street had ended lower on Wednesday with the S&P 500 dropping 0.7%, snapping a three-day winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.3%. Small-company stocks fell more precipitously than the rest of the market, dragging the Russell 2000 down 1.6%.

On Wednesday, the Sensex jumped 417.92 points, or 0.70%, to 60,260.13. The Nifty rose 119 points, or 0.67%, to 17,944.25.

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“The Fed minutes suggest a continuation of the hawkish stance and this may slightly impact sentiments in the mother market, US. But this is unlikely to impact the bullish sentiments in India since the return of the FIIs has completely altered the market mood and the bulls are calling the shots now,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

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Prashanth Tapse – Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said, “benchmark indices are expected to drift lower in early trades on Thursday, after the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting minutes that indicated Fed to stay hawkish on rate hike decision in its next meeting triggered a sharp fall in the US markets.”

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Separately, Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, was trading 0.10% higher at USD 93.74 per barrel. The rupee fell 23 paise to 79.68 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday.