Sensex Drops Over 800 Points From Day's High, Nifty Below 14,650

Seven of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty IT index's over 1.5 per cent decline.

The Indian equity benchmarks erased intraday gains in noon deals on the back of weakness in IT, banking and pharma shares. The benchmarks staged a gap up opening mirroring gains in other global markets after US Federal Reserve pledged to keep its benchmark overnight interest rate near zero. The Sensex fell as much as 569 points from the day's highest level and Nifty 50 index briefly fell below its important psychological level of 14,700. As of 1:21 pm, Sensex fell 229 points to 49,574 and Nifty 50 index declined 48 points to 14,673. Infosys, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, TCS, Axis Bank and HCL Technologies were among the top drags on the Sensex. Seven of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty IT index's over 1.5 per cent decline. Pharma, PSU Banking, Bank and Private Bank indexes also fell over 0.5 per cent.