Sensex tumbles 465 points, pharma stocks drag

Key equity indices were on a downward swing on Tuesday as the fear of continuous rise in Covid cases and extended lockdowns in various states capped market sentiment.

Investors said the strong quarterly earnings season have been supportive but poor progress on the vaccination front dented market sentiments.

The BSE S&P Sensex closed 465 points or 0.95 per cent lower at 48,254 while the Nifty 50 tumbled by 138 points or 0.94 per cent to 14,497.

Except for Nifty PSU bank which jumped by 3.4 per cent, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the negative terrain.

Among stocks, Tata Consumer Products dipped by 4.3 per cent to Rs 648 per share and Reliance Industries lost by 2.1 per cent to wind up the day at Rs 1,918.

Cipla was down by 3.1 per cent, Dr Reddy's by 2.1 per cent and Sun Pharma by 2 per cent. The other major losers were Hindalco, HDFC, HDFC Bank and Infosys.

However, those which gained were SBI Life, ONGC, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finance and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Meanwhile, Asia's share markets were mostly higher as regional equity investors looked to signs of recovery from the coronavirus pandemic while major economies around the world reopen.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was 0.7 per cent higher while South Korea's Kospi moved up by 0.64 per cent. Japan and mainland China's markets remained closed for holidays, dampening trading volumes across the region.

( With inputs from ANI )