Sensex tumbles 487 points; Nifty holds 15,000-mark

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After opening on strong footing benchmark Indian equity indices gave up the gains in afternoon trade amid profit booking, rising concerns on lockdown in various regions of Maharashtra and weak global cues.

At close, the Sensex was down 487 points or 0.95% at 50,792, while Nifty was down 143 points or 0.95% at 15,031. On an intraday basis, Sensex swung 1,283 points and the Nifty fluctuated 383 points.

Powergrid, Titan, ONGC & Infosys were the only gainers on the Sensex. Whereas Bajaj Auto, Maruti, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma & Reliance were the top losers falling in the range of 2-3%.

All sectoral indices on NSE also closed with losses, led by banking and financial services, especially PSU lenders.

In the broader markets, the S&P BSE SmallCap index fended the fall and settled 0.14% higher. While the BSE MidCap index fell 0.45%.

According to Binod Modi, Head – Strategy at Reliance Securities, after seeing a brisk opening on favourable global cues, domestic equities fell sharply mainly led by selling pressure in financials and auto stocks.

“The 10-year US Treasury yield again surged to 1.6% on anticipation of a spike in inflation led by $1.9 trillion fiscal stimulus backed faster economic recovery. This has weighed on investor sentiments,” he said.

Hardening bond yields and soaring oil prices are also expected to weigh on investor sentiment and may keep markets volatile in the near to medium term, he added.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo ended on a positive note, while Hong Kong was in the red.

Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading in losses in mid-session deals.

Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.09% lower at $69.57 per barrel.

(With inputs from PTI)