Sensex, Nifty Snap Four-Day Winning Streak As Banking Shares Drag

Seven of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty Financial Service index's over 1 per cent fall.

The Indian equity benchmarks snapped their four-day winning streak as banking, financial services, metal and information technology shares came under selling pressure amid weak global cues. The Sensex fell as much as 514 points and Nifty 50 index briefly moved below its important psychological level of 14,800. HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, Infosys and Hindustan Unilever were among the top drags on the Sensex. The Sensex ended 341 points or 0.7 per cent lower at 49,162 and Nifty 50 index declined 92 points to close at 14,851. Asian shares slipped following a weak close on Wall Street overnight, with U.S. inflation expectations surging to their highest in a decade as the economy reopens from pandemic-induced shutdowns. "Inflation worries seem to be real over the next few months and quarters in the U.S. context ... the reaction is primarily on this count," Mayuresh Joshi, head of equity research at William O'Neil & Co in India told news agency Reuters.