Markets tumble in early trade; Infosys falls nearly 8%

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| Photo Credit: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

Equity benchmark indices tumbled in early trade on July 21 after a non-stop record-breaking rally, dragged down by IT behemoth Infosys after the company slashed its FY24 growth outlook.

Decline in share prices of market bluechip firms Reliance Industries and Tata Consultancy Services also added to the bearish trend in equities.

After a record-breaking rally for the past many days, the 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 749.75 points to 66,822.15 in early trade. The NSE Nifty fell by 203.15 points to 19,776. Both the benchmark indices began the trade on a weak note.

From the Sensex pack, Infosys tanked nearly 8% after the company reported a lower-than-expected 11% rise in net profit for the June quarter and delivered a shocker as it slashed its FY24 growth outlook to 1-3.5% on delayed decision-making by clients amid global macro uncertainties.

HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Industries and Tech Mahindra were the other major laggards.

Larsen & Toubro, State Bank of India, Nestle, Power Grid and Tata Motors were among the gainers.

In Asian markets, Tokyo traded lower while Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong were quoting in the green.

The U.S. markets ended mostly lower on Thursday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.78% to $80.26 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark had jumped 474.46 points or 0.71% to settle at its fresh all-time closing high of 67,571.90 on Thursday, extending its winning momentum to the sixth day. During the day, it rallied 521.73 points or 0.77% to hit its lifetime intra-day peak of 67,619.17.

The Nifty had climbed 146 points or 0.74% to end at its record closing high of 19,979.15. During the session, it had soared 158.7 points or 0.80% to reach its fresh record high of 19,991.85.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were buyers on Thursday as they bought equities worth ₹3,370.90 crore, according to exchange data.