Sensex falls 361 points, Nifty settles below 17,000; Balrampur Chini Mills, Adani Total Gas drop up to 7%
Indian equity benchmarks settled lower on Monday amid a highly volatile trading session. The domestic indices were dragged by metals, technology, automobile, financial services and banks. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack dived 361 points or 0.62 per cent to close at 57,629; while the broader NSE Nifty index moved 112 points or 0.65 per cent lower to settle at 16,988. Mid and smallcap shares finished on a weak note, with the Nifty Midcap 100 down 1.03 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 falling 0.98 per cent. Fear gauge India VIX rose 8.39 per cent to 16.01. The domestic benchmarks cracked today on worries of risks in the global banking system despite a historic Swiss-backed acquisition of troubled Credit Suisse by UBS Group offering some relief.
Selling pressure in select index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) pulled the indices lower further. The indices, however, trimmed their losses in fag-end trade. On the global front, Asian stocks also settled lower today.
“The fear of contagion of the financial crisis has kept investors away from the equity markets as the global market faces numerous hurdles. Despite Swiss regulators’ intervention to protect the global financial system, investor sentiment remained shaky. The market is now awaiting the outcome of the Fed meeting to see how they will respond to the ongoing crisis, particularly in terms of rate hikes. Investors expect the central bank to raise interest rates by 0-25 basis points,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
The Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision is scheduled for Wednesday.
13 out of the 15 sectoral indices on NSE settled in the red. Sub-indices Nifty Metal, Nifty IT, Nifty Auto, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Bank underperformed the Nifty index by falling 2.35 per cent, 1.43 per cent, 0.93 per cent, 0.88 per cent nd 0.60 per cent, respectively. In contrast, Nifty FMCG gained 0.79 per cent.
Shares of Balrampur Chini Mills cracked 6.55 per cent. Hindustan Aeronautics slumped 5.58 per cent; while Deepak Fertilisers moved 5.49 per cent lower. India Cements fell up to 5.37 per cent. Index heavyweights Reliance, Infosys and TCS declined up to 1.20 per cent.
In addition, most Adani Group stocks also fell today. Adani Enterprises, group’s flagship firm, settled 3.84 per cent lower; while Adani Total Gas and Adani Power tanked up to 5 per cent.
On the flipside, Aarti Drugs zoomed 16.11 per cent after hitting 52-week low; while Network18 gained 12.79 per cent. MMTC and Brightcom Group jumped 5 per cent, respectively. Adani Green Energy, Rallis India, Just Dial, MAS Financial Services, Route Mobile, Gillette and Rajesh Exports moved up to 4.66 per cent higher.
Out of a total of 3,752 stocks that traded during the day, 2,480 settled with cuts while 1,143 others ended higher. The rest 129 stocks stayed unchanged.
Also read: Infosys shares slip below Rs 1,400 mark today; time to buy, sell or hold?
Also read: Gravita India shares: This Ashish Kacholia stock offers 27% upside potential, says Sharekhan
