Sensex dives 587 points, Nifty ends near 15,750; financial, metal stocks drag

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Indian benchmark equity indices ended settled in the red on Monday tracking a negative trend in the global markets amid concerns of the potential third wave of Covid infections. Sensex ended 586 points or 1.10% at 52,553, while Nifty settled at 15,752, down 171 points or 1.07%.

The sell-off in the markets wiped out Rs 1.25 lakh crore of investor wealth.

“Shadowing global sell-off, Indian indices slipped succumbing to world inflation woes, FOMC meeting next week and rising covid cases. Banks led the domestic downtrend as initial quarterly results pointed to cautious asset quality due to the impact of the second wave. Slackening economic growth in the U.S.-led to reports of likely downgrade in growth forecast in current year triggering global sell-off,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

Gainers & losers

New listings

Shares of Clean Science and Technology settled their maiden on the bourses at Rs 1585.25 per share, a premium of 76.13% compared with the issue price of Rs 900 per share. The scrip was listed at a price of Rs 1784.40 per share, at a premium of 98.27% to the initial public offer (IPO) price. On the BSE, 10.62 lakh shares of the company were traded on the counter.

G R Infraprojects ended at Rs 1,746.80, at a premium of 108.70% compared with the issue price of Rs 837 per share. The scrip was listed at Rs 1,700 per share, at a premium of 103.11% to the initial public offer (IPO) price. On the BSE, over 7.54 lakh shares of the company were traded in the counter.

Sectoral strand

Barring Nifty Realty (up 0.43%) and Nifty Pharma (up 0.24%) all other sectoral indices ended with losses. Nifty Bank index lost the most declining 1.88%, followed by Nifty Metal and Nifty Auto indices that were down 1.36% & 1.13% respectively. While Nifty IT & Nifty FMCG lost in the range of 0.20-0.46%.

Broader market

In today’s trade, the rally in broader markets took a pause, however, the pain was much less when compared to benchmark indices as the BSE MidCap index lost 0.58% to 22,995. The BSE SmallCap index settled at 26,381 lower by 0.31%.

The market breadth favoured the bears with 1,048 shares declining compared to 938 stocks advancing while 330 scrips remained unchanged.

Monsoon Session of Parliament

Both the Houses of the Parliament were adjourned on Monday following protests by the Opposition parties. The uproar happened when Prime Minister Modi was introducing the new ministers. Raising an objection to this, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said, “Congress’s behaviour in Lok Sabha is sad, unfortunate and unhealthy.”

The monsoon session of the Parliament began today (19 July) and it will conclude on 13 August 2021. The government has listed 17 new bills for introduction in the session. Apart from the new bills, the legislations to be introduced in Lok Sabha include three bills to replace existing ordinances.

Global markets

The US Dow Jones futures were down 197 points, indicating a weak opening in the US market today.

Shares in Europe and Asia tumbled on Monday, 19 July 2021, as markets digested the latest OPEC+ announcement regarding oil production, and continued to brood on inflation and rising Covid-19 cases.