Benchmark indices tumbled for the fourth straight day on Monday, in line with weak global equities amid foreign fund outflows. Sensex tanked 953.70 points or 1.64 per cent to end at 57,145.22. During the day, it plunged 1,060.68 points or 1.82 per cent to 57,038.24. Nifty fell 311.05 points or 1.80 per cent to close at 17,016.30. Market cap of BSE-listed firms fell to 270.11 lakh crore against Rs 276.64 lakh crore in the previous session, leading to a loss of Rs 6.53 lakh crore in investor wealth.
Maruti, Tata Steel, ITC, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra and IndusInd Bank were the top Sensex losers, falling up to 5.49 per cent. HCL Technologies, Infosys, Asian Paints, TCS, UltraTech Cement, Wipro and Nestle were the top Sensex gainers, rising up to 1.31 per cent.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said, “The soaring dollar as a result of aggressive monetary tightening, slowing economic growth and rising demand from cautious investors are causing turbulence in the global equity market. This is creating mayhem in the domestic market led by weakening INR, elevated bond yields and pessimistic trends of Asian peers. Only the IT sector, which exhibited the weakest performance in the last 1yr, defied the trend in anticipation that the global recession is mostly factored in the price and are trading at reasonable valuations”.
Share Market News Today Highlights: Sensex dives 954 points, Nifty settles below 17,050; Adani Ports, Tata Motors among top drags
Mid-cap and small-cap indices on BSE fell 718 points and 959 points, respectively. Banking, auto and metal shares were the top sectoral losers with their BSE indices falling 1,037 points, 1157 pts, and 841 pts, respectively.
Market breadth was negative with 611 stocks ending higher against 2,980 stocks falling on BSE. 116 shares were unchanged.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth a net Rs 2,899 crore on Friday, according to data available with the BSE.
Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities said, “Nifty remained volatile with a predominant negative bias throughout the day before ending 1.80% lower. The index fell below the previous consolidation low on the daily chart. However, it has found support at the long-term moving average, 200 DMA, which may act as the ‘line of polarity’ for the short term. The momentum indicator is in bearish crossover and falling. The trend for the short-term looks negative; however, further selling pressure may be seen only below 17950, where the 200 DMA is currently placed. On the higher end, immediate resistance is visible at 17300-17350.”
Previous session
Sensex tanked 1,020.80 points or 1.73 per cent to end at 58,098.92 on Friday. During the day, it crashed 1,137.77 points or 1.92 per cent to 57,981.95. Nifty plummeted 302.45 points or 1.72 per cent to close at 17,327.35. Power Grid was the top Sensex loser, slumping 7.93 per cent followed by Mahindra, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, NTPC, HDFC and IndusInd Bank. Sun Pharma, Tata Steel and ITC were the only Sensex gainers, rising up to 1.53 per cent.
Global markets
Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended sharply lower. European bourses were trading in the red in mid-session deals. The US markets ended in the negative territory on Friday. Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude slipped 0.75 per cent to $85.50 per barrel.