New Delhi: Markets dropped 214 points in early trade on Thursday, led by losses in financial stocks ahead of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's press conference.
The BSE Sensex fell 213.91 points or 0.49 percent to 43,379.76 in early trade while the NSE Nifty dropped 53.70 points or 0.42 percent to 12,695.45.
Also read: Share market updates
Major losers in the Sensex pack were HDFC, Kotak Bank, ONGC, ICICI Bank, NTPC, SBI, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserve, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Auto, falling upto 2.11 percent. On the other hand, major gainers were Sun Pharma, Nestle, Tech Mahindra, LT, M&M, Infosys, Asian Paint, HUL, Titan, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, and HCL Tech, rising upto 1.13 percent.
In the previous session, Sensex settled 316.02 points or 0.73 per cent higher at 43,593.67, while Nifty vaulted 118.05 points or 0.93 per cent to close at a record 12,749.15.
The government on Wednesday approved a Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for ten key sectors, including telecom, automobiles and pharmaceuticals, taking the total outlay for such incentives to nearly Rs 2 lakh crore over a five-year period.
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Foreign institutional investors remained net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 6,207.19 crore on Wednesday, according to provisional exchange data.
MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.44%, approaching the highest since January 2018. Chinese shares rose 0.37%. Stocks in Japan rose 0.62% to a 29-year high. Australian stocks bucked the regional trend and fell 0.31% as a decline in copper prices hurt shares in miners. S&P 500 stock futures fell 0.15%, a Reuters report said.
