Sensex Drops Over 500 Points, Nifty Below 17,750 As Banking Shares Drag

The Indian equity benchmarks moved sharply lower in afternoon trading after staging a swift recovery in opening deals as banking and financial services shares along with index heavyweight Reliance Industries came under selling pressure.

The Sensex which recovered over 850 points earlier in the day was down over 500 points and Nifty fell below 17,750 after recovering from low of 17,613.10 and hitting an intraday high of 17,915.85. Reliance Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were among the top drags on the Sensex.

The Sensex fell 530 points or nearly 1 per cent to 59,455 and Nifty 50 index declined 132 points to 17,725 by 1:40 pm.