NEW DELHI: Domestic benchmark indices settled sharply lower on Monday as the sell-off in global markets continued into the new trading week.
Fears of a wider lockdown in Beijing and Indonesia’s ban on palm oil exports spooked investors already fretting about faster Federal Reserve tightening.
Fear of waning demand due to prolonged Covid lockdown in China led to oil prices tumbling. Continued FII selling in India along with other global uncertainties is favouring bear trend in the short-term, said Vinod Nair of Geojit Financial Services.
“During the afternoon session, markets failed to erase losses and traded at days low as sentiments were fragile as India’s crude oil import bill nearly doubled to $119 billion in the fiscal year that ended on March 31, as energy prices soared globally following the return of demand and war in Ukraine,” said Narendra Solanki of Anand Rathi Shares & Stock Brokers.
Dragged by losses in metal, energy, FMCG, technology, oil and gas and realty counters, the 30-share pack Sensex shed 617.26 points or 1.08 per cent for the second day to close at 56,579.89. Its broader peer NSE Nifty also fell 186.70 points or 1.09 per cent to settle below the 17,200 mark, over 80% stocks declined in trade. Reliance and Infosys contributed 30% Nifty’s fall.
This is the first time the Nifty closed below 17,000 in over five weeks. NSE midcap and smallcap indices lost nearly 2 per cent each.
Gainers & Losers
Coal India and BPCL were the biggest drags in today’s session, falling over 6 per cent each. Tata Steel, SBI Life, Hindalco, NTPC, Tech Mahindra, Reliance, Titan, and ITC were other counters that fell between 2-and 4 per cent.
Bajaj Auto, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Axis Bank were among the few stocks that managed to end the session in the black.
Except for Nifty Bank, all major Nifty sub-indexes were down. Realty, IT and metal stocks led losses, falling more than 3 per cent each. Both the indexes fell over 1 per cent on Friday. In the last two sessions, investors’ wealth worth over Rs 6 lakh crore has been wiped off on Dalal Street.
While FMCG stocks were in a rude shock following a shortage of palm oil which led to strict actions from major exporting nations, stocks of Future Group firms tumbled after RIL called off a deal to buy its assets.
Additional pressure came in as a private report cut India’s 2022-23 growth forecast by 70 basis points to 7 per cent, citing slowing global growth due to high commodity prices and weak local demand because of energy price hikes, inflationary pressures and a struggling labour market, Solanki added.
Market at a glance
- BPCL fell over 5.8% amid reports that govt put the privatisation process on pause
- HDFC twins snap losing streak to end higher, HDFC Bank up nearly 1 per cent
- ICICI Bank gained after private sector lender reported a strong set of Q4 numbers. Nomura and Credit Suisse have raised their target prices on the counter.
- Shares of Mahindra CIE Automotive settled 6.05 per cent higher and were the biggest gainer on Nifty500.
- Meghmani Finechem shares surged 16% to a record after a strong Q4 show
Index Statistics
Market breadth favours declines, as 42 of 50 stocks end in the red. Advance-decline ratio was at 1:4. About 1,037 shares advanced, 2,494 shares declined and 143 shares remained unchanged. 177 stocks tested their 52-week highs during the session, whereas 23 others tested their 52-week lows. 337 stocks hit their upper circuit limit, while 279 stocks were locked in the lower circuit.
Global Markets
Asian markets in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai settled significantly lower. Markets in Europe were also trading in the negative zone in the afternoon session. Dow Futures fell more than 200 points as Wall Street braces for a busy earnings week.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude tumbled 4.44 per cent to $101.92 per barrel.
