The Indian equity benchmarks declined for third day in a row on Thursday on the back of a broad-based selling pressure as investor sentiment soured on worries about rising inflation following a higher-than-expected jump in US consumer prices. The Sensex fell as much as 697 points and Nifty 50 index briefly tumbled below its important psychological level of 17,800. ICICI Bank, HDFC, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the top drags on the Sensex.The Sensex ended 433 points lower at 59,920 and Nifty 50 index dropped 144 points to end at 17,874.Inflation fears pressured Asian stocks and buoyed the dollar at an almost 16-month high on Thursday after US consumer prices surged at the fastest pace since 1990, boosting the case for faster Federal Reserve policy tightening.Selling pressure was broad-based as thirteen of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty Realty index’s over 2 per cent fall. Nifty PSU Bank, Bank, Pharma, FMCG, Private Bank, Auto and Financial Services indexes also fell between 1-1.9 per cent.On the other hand, Nifty Metal and CONSUMER DURABLES indices managed to close in the green.Mid- and small-cap shares also faced selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index dropped nearly 1 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 0.5 per cent.Shares of leading online food delivery platform Zomato gained six per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 144 on Thursday, November 11, a day after its revenue from operations more than doubled to Rs 1,024 crore in the July-September quarter buoyed by a strong food delivery business and a rebound in the restaurant sector. However, its net loss widened to Rs 435 crore from Rs Rs 229 crore in year-ago period, due to increased delivery costs on rising fuel prices.Thermax rallied over 10 per cent to close at Rs 1,522 after its profit nearly tripled to Rs 88 crore in September quarter from Rs 31 crore in the year ago period.State Bank of India was top Nifty loser, the stock fell nearly 3 per cent to close at Rs 510. ONGC, SBI Life, Bajaj Finserv, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance, Eicher Motors, Axis Bank, Wipro and Britannia Industries also declined 1.5-2.6 per cent.On the flipside, Titan, Hindalco, JSW Steel, TCS, Mahindra & Mahindra, Coal India and Reliance Industries were among the notable gainers.The overall market breadth was negative as 1,847 shares ended lower while 1,442 closed higher on the BSE.
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