New Delhi: Indian stock benchmarks started in the red on Thursday, dragged by losses in information technology stocks. Asian equities rose higher, shaking off overnight declines in Europe and Wall Street, while China underlined its divergent monetary and economic picture by cutting benchmark mortgage rates.
At home, at 9:27 a.m., the 30-stock BSE Sensex package fell 275 points, or 0.46 percent, to 59,824 and the broader NSE Nifty was down 71 points, or 0.40 percent, to 17,867.
Mid and small cap stocks were mixed as the Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.18 percent and small cap stocks traded 0.23 percent higher.
On the stock-specific front, Infosys was the biggest loser as the stock cracked 1.55 percent to Rs 1,838.15. Tech Mahindra, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries and ONGC were also among those left behind.
Non-bank lender PTC India Financial Services also fell a whopping 16.96 percent after the three independent directors resigned due to corporate governance flaws.
On the other hand, Tata Consumer Products, PowerGrid, Coal India, Grasim Industries and Hero MotoCorp were among the winners.
Overall market size was positive as 1,538 shares rose while 1,147 fell on BSE.
On the 30-share BSE platform, Infosys, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Asian Paints, Wipro, Reliance Industries and TCS suffered the most losses, with a whopping 1.83 percent loss.
PowerGrid, UltraTech Cements, Tata Steel, ITC, Bharti Airtel and Axis Bank were among the winners.
Sensex was down 656 points, or 1.08 percent, to close Wednesday at 60,099, while the broader NSE Nifty was down 175 points, or 0.96 percent, at 17,938.