Bears tighten grip: Sensex falls over 1,400 points, Nifty below 15,800; investors lose Rs 6.50 lakh cr
A view of BSE in Mumbai
Domestic equity indices extended their losses on Monday from the previous week and tumbled sharply as high inflation in the US triggered possibilities of more aggressive policy tightening by the Federal Reserve. The 30-share BSE benchmark crashed 1,456.74 points o 2.68% to end at 52,846.70. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty plunged 427.40 points or 2.64% to end at 15,774.50.
Banking, financial service and IT stocks were the worst hit in today’s session as all the NIFTY sectoral indices finished in red. Among the 50 stocks of Nifty50, only Bajaj Auto (0.08%) and Nestle India (0.49%) ended in the green.
While Nifty IT crashed 4.12%, Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Metal and Nifty Realty tumbled more than 3% each.
Nifty Bank finished 1077.95 points or 3.13% lower at 33,405.58. IndusInd Bank was the top loser (4.98%) followed by Bank of Baroda and Bandhan Bank (both crashing more than 4.50%). ICICI Bank settled 4.44% southward at Rs 688 apiece. Bajaj Finance crashed 5.21% while Bajaj Finserv declined 6.74%.
Market heavyweight TCS crashed 4.04% to end at Rs 3,224 apiece. Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Tech also corrected as the IT index settled 4.12% lower. Weakness in Reliance Industries also dragged the market as it settled 1.70% lower at Rs 2,668.
NIFTY at 15,200?
Ravi Singhal, vice chairman, GCL Securities, said that after the bloodbath in the US market on Friday, the same trend was visible in the Indian market. This was mainly due to CPI data of the US and the Covid spurt in China.
“Now the market thinks there could be more rate hike… Still, some pain is left for us. Nifty could touch 15,200 in coming weeks,” he said.
Ravi Singh, vice president and head of Research, Share India, said that investors are cautious ahead of the scheduled central bank meeting this week. Nifty may continue the sell off towards the levels of 15,500. However, 15,500 is holding strong support and “we may see a bounce back in the index from that levels”.
Earlier on Friday, Wall Street had ended sharply lower after the inflation data spooked investors. Inflation in the US has hit a 40-year-old of 8.60 per cent, according to the data released last week. The higher rate of inflation has worried investors that the Federal Reserve may aggressively hike key rates.
In the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank, TCS, NTPC, Infosys and State Bank of India were the major laggards.
According to the BSE’s website, 90 stocks hit a 52-week high today’s session. As many as 7 stocks were locked in the upper circuit and 5 hit the lower circuit.
The market capitalisation of all listed companies fell by over Rs 6.65 lakh crore to Rs 245.19 lakh crore from Rs 251.84 lakh crore on Friday, as per data on the BSE website. At the closing, the market capitalization of all BSE listed companies was at Rs 2,45,19,673.44.
Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai settled with deep cuts. Markets in Europe were also facing heavy selling pressure in mid-session deals.
Meanwhile, the rupee plunged 20 paise to close at an all-time low of 78.13 against the US dollar. On Friday, the rupee had tumbled 19 paise to close at a record low of 77.93 against the US dollar.
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