Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty fell on Wednesday. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty buckled under heavy selling pressure to sink below record high levels on July 10, tracking deep losses in metal, auto and IT stocks amid widespread profit booking after recent gains.

Rising uncertainty over interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve also added to the weak trend in domestic equities, traders said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened 129.72 points higher to hit a fresh all-time high of 80,481.36. However, the index soon tumbled 915.88 points or 1.13% to trade at 79,435.76. It finally closed lower by 426.87 points or 0.53% at 79,924.77.

The NSE Nifty also hit its record 24,461.05 in opening deals but pared all gains to decline 291.4 points or 1.19% to 24,141.80 intra-day. It dropped 108.75 points or 0.45% to settle at 24,324.45.

In the Sensex pack, Mahindra & Mahindra tanked over 6% after the company cut the prices of its SUV models to boost demand. Mahindra & Mahindra said its XUV700’s fully-loaded AX7 range now starts at ₹19.49 lakh, a price cut of over ₹2 lakh.

Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies, State Bank of India, JSW Steel, Tata Motors and Kotak Mahindra Bank were other losers. On the other hand, Asian Paints, NTPC, Power Grid, Adani Ports and Bharti Airtel were the winners.

Meanwhile, in Asian markets, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled lower, while Seoul and Tokyo ended higher. European markets were trading higher in the mid-session deals. US markets ended on a mixed note in the overnight trade on Tuesday. Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.24% to $84.86 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹314.46 crore on July 9, according to exchange data. The BSE benchmark climbed 391.26 points or 0.49 per cent to settle at a new closing peak of 80,351.64 on Tuesday. The NSE Nifty went up by 112.65 points or 0.46% to 24,433.20, its record closing high.