Sensex drops 283 pts; Nifty ends below 15,700

Mumbai, Jun 23 (PTI): Equity benchmark Sensex gave up early gains and tumbled 283 points on Wednesday following losses in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, HDFC and ICICI Bank.
The 30-share BSE index ended 282.63 points or 0.54 per cent lower at 52,306.08. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty declined 85.80 points or 0.54 per cent to 15,686.95.
Kotak Bank was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding over 1 per cent, followed by L&T, Tata Steel, HDFC, TCS, Reliance Industries, HCL Tech and ICICI Bank.
On the other hand, Maruti, Titan, Bajaj Finserv and M&M were among the gainers.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo ended with gains, while Seoul was in the red.
Equities in Europe were largely trading with losses in mid-session deals.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.84 per cent higher at USD 75.44 per barrel.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.2% to 3,566.22 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo ended little-changed at 28,874.89 after spending the day in positive territory. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 1.8% to 28,817.07. The Kospi in Seoul was 0.4% higher at 3,2,76.19 while Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 shed 0.6% to 7,298.50. In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London rose 0.2% to 7,102.18 while the DAX in Frankfurt shed 0.4% to 15,578.84. The CAC 40 in Paris was off 0.3% at 6,589.86. Most major central banks have kept interest rates near record lows over the past year, helping to propel a stock market rebound. Investors are wavering between optimism about the rollout of coronavirus vaccines and unease that rising inflation as economic activity revives might lead central bankers to cut short that support.
Markets are close to record highs, but that masks churning below the surface after the Fed said last week it might consider raising short-term interest rates by late 2013, earlier than expected.