The start of this week’s trading session began with bears taking control and sweeping off super gains of benchmarks Sensex and Nifty 50 from last week. The downside was on an expected line since investors would carry profit booking with Indian markets reaching historic levels. A broad-based sharp sell-off was witnessed across sectoral indices on Monday with metal stocks taking the worst coupled with banking stocks that also weighed down substantially.
Weak global cues further added to the selling pressure for equities back at home. So far in the early deals, Sensex has nosedived by at least 490 points, while Nifty 50 has plunged by nearly 160 points.
The equity markets will be swayed this week with dozen central bank meetings lined up including the US Federal Reserve that may indicate ‘tapering’ of bond purchases which could be negative for emerging markets.
At around 09.35 am, Sensex was trading at 58,895.01 down 120.88 points or 0.20%. Nifty 50 performed at 17,529.10 lower by 56.05 points or 0.32%.
In terms of broader markets, Sensex Next 50 slipped more than 368 points.
On BSE, in terms of sectoral indices, the Metal index dipped more than 700 points, while the Bankex and Auto index dropped by 260 points or 310 points. However, IT stocks shrugged off a bearish tone and emerged as the top bull of the day by surging over 270 points.
Top bulls on Sensex were – HUL and HCL Tech soaring 2% and 1.9%. Tech Mahindra and TCS advanced 1.7% and 1%. Infosys, ITC and Sun Pharma zoomed 0.5-1%.
Top bears on Sensex were – Tata Steel plummeting nearly 5% followed by Bajaj Auto and HDFC shedding 1.6% and 1.5% respectively. M&M, Power Grid and Maruti Suzuki fell by around 1% each.
On the global front, Asian markets were broadly in the red with Hong Kong shares hitting their lowest level since July. Hang Seng has dived by more than 1040 points or over 4% as China Evergrande Group’s continued to witness free fall that fuelled concerns about credit risks among indebted developers – dampened sentiments.
Evergrande which has $300B liabilities, has its bond interest payment due on Thursday this week.
Also, worries about China’s economic health and Beijing’s crackdown on tech firms further added to the woes.
Notably, China, South Korea and Japan markets are closed on Monday for holidays.
Australia’s S&P/ASX has also dipped by more than 2%.
Last week, on Friday, US markets ended lower as triple “witching” of options sees pressure on weak indices. Dow Jones loses 166 while Nasdaq has its worst week in over 2 months ending lower by 138 points. Bond yields close near 1.28% while US$ closes near 92.78.
