Sensex slumps for second straight day; closes 498 points down

Mumbai: The Indian stock markets' key indices slumped by around one percent on Tuesday dragged by heavy selling pressure in IT and banking stocks ahead of the first quarter earnings report by several large-cap companies and announcement of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision on interest rates.

The 30 stock S&P BSE Sensex slumped 497.73 points or 0.89 percent to 55,268.49 points against its previous day's close at 55,766.22 points. Earlier, the Sensex started the day in the positive at 55,834.38 points but soon slipped into the negative. It slipped to a low of 55,203.43 points in the intra-day.
This is the second consecutive day of the slump in the benchmark index. The Sensex had lost 306.01 points or 0.55 percent on Monday.

The broader Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange fell 147.15 points or 0.88 percent to 16,483.85 points against its previous day's close at 16,631.00 points.
The Nifty 50 had lost 88.45 points or 0.53 percent on Monday.
There was heavy selling pressure in IT stocks. Infosys tumbled 3.40 per cent to Rs 1451.80. Wipro dipped 2.28 percent to Rs 405.20. HCL Technologies slipped 1.74 percent to Rs 914.15. Tech Mahindra dipped 1.68 percent to Rs 999.50.

The country's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) fell 1.62 percent to Rs 3115.85.
Axis Bank slumped 3 percent to Rs 706.35. Kotak Bank slipped 2.07 percent to Rs 1757.55. State Bank of India closed 0.67 percent down at Rs 514.15. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank also closed in the red.
Bajaj Finserv surged 5.58 percent to Rs 13314.75. Bharti Airtel rose 0.83 percent to Rs 683.80. Power Grid Corporation, Bajaj Finance, ITC, and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the major Sensex gainers.
The index heavyweight Reliance Industries Limited ended the day almost flat. The scrip closed 0.01 percent higher at Rs 2420.50.
Bajaj Auto slumped 2.30 percent to Rs 3925.20 after the announcement of quarterly numbers.
Bajaj Auto on reported a standalone net profit of Rs 1,173.3 crore for the first quarter of the current financial year as compared to Rs 1,061.2 crore recorded in the corresponding period of the last year, registering a year-on-year growth of 10.6 percent.
The company's standalone revenue from operations rose by 8.4 percent year-on-year to Rs 8,004.97 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2022.

On a sequential basis, the company's revenue increased by 0.3 percent. In January-March 2022 quarter, Bajaj Auto's total revenue from operations stood at Rs 7,974.84 crore.
Bajaj Auto's board of directors at its meeting held on Tuesday approved the financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2022. (ANI)