Sensex extends losses for third day, drops 128 points

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 18 (ANI): The key indices of the domestic equity market ended in the negative territory, extending the loss for the third consecutive day, amid heavy selling. Global markets improved as the gloom over the US debt ceiling seemed to have eased.
Heavyweights ITC and the State Bank of India dragged the key indices at the stock exchanges as their fourth quarter earnings didn't live up to market estimates.
BSE 30-share Sensex lost 128 points and settled at 61,431.74 and NSE Nifty 50 dropped 48 points to 18,133.55. Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, HCL Technologies, HDFC and HDFC Bank were among the biggest gainers.
In Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 166 points, Japan's Nikkei gained 480 points, Thailand Set rose 3 points, China's Shanghai grew 13 points, HNX 30 was in the positive territory and JSX Composite and KSE 100 were trading in the negative territory.
In the US markets, Dow Jones was up 480 points, Nasdaq, NYSE, S&P 500 were trading in the positive territory.
In European markets, Amsterdam Exchange was trading 5 points up, BEL and CAC were trading in the positive territory, Deutsche Borse was up 264 points and FTSE surged 47 points.
SBI shares closed with 1.77 per cent down to Rs 61,431.74 despite the lender reporting an 83 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 16,694.51 crore for the fourth quarter of 2022-23 on higher interest income and low provisioning. Gross NPA ratio fell to Rs 2.78 per cent in the March quarter from 3.14 per cent in the previous quarter and 3.97 per cent in the year-ago period.
ITC shares were down 2.05 per cent at the closing of Thursday.
ITC consolidated net profit rose by 22.7 per cent to Rs 5,175 crore in the March quarter, against Rs 4,196 crore a year ago. The board of the company recommended a final dividend of Rs 6.75 and a special dividend of Rs 2.75 per equity share. Revenue from operations during the March quarter surged 7 per cent to Rs 19,058 crore, against Rs 17,754 crore in the year-ago quarter. (ANI)