Stock Market Today: Sensex falls by more than 200 points, Nifty below 23,950; Big fall in pharma shares

Mumbai, 23 July. The Indian stock market started with weakness on Thursday. Sensex fell over 200 points in early trade, while Nifty slipped below the 23,950 level. At 9:21 am, BSE Sensex was down 208 points (0.27%) at 76,553 and NSE Nifty was down 51 points (0.22%) at 23,941. The most pressure was seen on pharma shares in early trading. Nifty Pharma index was trading 0.81 percent lower. Market experts consider the main reason for this to be the tariff announcement from America.

Apart from this, Nifty Realty, IT, Oil & Gas, Services, Private Bank, Financial Services, PSE, Infra and Commodities sectors were also trading in the red. Whereas, slight growth was seen in auto, metal, media, FMCG, defense and consumer durables sectors.

Among Sensex stocks, Trent, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Hindustan Unilever (HUL), ICICI Bank and Power Grid were among the gainers. While Infosys, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank, NTPC, Tata Steel, SBI, TCS, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, Titan, HCL Tech and Kotak Mahindra Bank declined. There was selling pressure in midcap and smallcap stocks also. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading 152 points lower at 62,142 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index was trading 33 points lower at 19,097.

Talking about global markets, there was a rise in the markets of Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Jakarta, while a decline was recorded in Shanghai. American stock markets closed weak on Wednesday. The Dow Jones was almost flat, while the Nasdaq fell 0.57 percent.

According to market experts, the price of Brent crude remains above $ 95 per barrel following Iran-US tensions and attacks on Saudi Arabian oil tankers by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. Rising crude oil prices are a matter of concern for an import-dependent country like India, which is also negatively impacting investor sentiment.