Sensex sheds 621pts amid Omicron woes, weak global cues; Nifty below 17,750

Market participants are already concerned about the rapid global spread of the highly infectious Omicron Covid variant

Closing Bell

Global markets, including India, turned lower on Thursday as persistent inflationary pressure and fears of a faster-than-expected rise in US interest rates weighed on riskier assets.

Shares in Asia-Pacific fell sharply on Thursday, following in the footsteps of the US overnight where the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped more than 3 per cent to notch its biggest one-day loss since February, 2021.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dipped roughly 2.9 per cent, South Korea's Kospi slipped 1.2 per cent, and Australia's S&P/ASX200 declined 2.7 per cent. In Europe, the pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped around 1.2 per cent.

Back home, the frontline S&P BSE Sensex shed 621 points, or 1.03 per cent, to close at 59,602. This was, however, higher than the day's low level of 59,251, courtesy fag-end buying in PSU Bank and auto stocks. Both these indices ended half a per cent higher each on the NSE today. 

The broader Nifty50, meanwhile, shut shop at 17,746, down 179 points or 1 per cent. It had touched a low of 17,655 earlier today.

The losses come after minutes from the Federal Reserve's key December meeting showed the central bank discussed reducing its balance sheet in another move to aggressively dial back its pandemic-era easy monetary policy.

It comes at a time when market participants are already deeply concerned about the rapid global spread of the highly infectious Omicron Covid variant, with several countries reporting record daily infections in the last 24 hours.

Auto stocks such as Bajaj Auto, Eicher Motors, and Maruti Suzuki dominated the gainers' list today. These were supported by gains in IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, UPL, and Bajaj Finance. All these stocks were up between 1 and 2 per cent. 

On the downside, JSW Steel, Ultratech Cement, Tech M, Shree Cement, RIL, Adani Ports, and HDFC were the top drags, down in the range of 2-3 per cent.

The broader markets, however, outperformed their large-cap counterparts. The BSE MidCap index ended just 0.05 per cent down while the BSE SmallCap index added 0.01 per cent.

Gujarat Gas, Bharat Forge, AB Capital, RBL Bank, Rajesh Exports, Indian Hotels, Zee Learn, and Panama Petrochem were the leading gainers from the space.

Among the lot, the shares of Panama Petrochem hit a record high of Rs 328.4 after rallying 13 per cent on the BSE. In the past two trading days, the stock of the refineries/petro products company has surged 25 per cent after investor Ramesh Damani bought over 1 per cent stake in the company during October-December quarter (Q3). READ MORE

Given the strength in the broader market, the overall market breadth favoured buyers on the BSE. There were 1,983 advancing stocks on the exchange as against 1,399 declining stocks.

Nearly 680 stocks hit their respective upper circuits. As many as 63 per cent or 382 stocks are from the BSE X (157) and XT (225) group. READ MORE

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Markets at 02:30 PM

LIVE market updates: The key benchmark indices were marginally off the day's low on account of gains in telecom major Bharti Airtel and select financial shares.

The BSE Sensex had recovered partly from the day's low and was down 523 points at 59,700. The NSE Nifty had declined 151 points at 17,774.

The broader indices had recovered almost all the losses and were outperforming the benchmark indices. The BSE Midcap was down 0.2 per cent at 25,290 as against the day's low of 25,079. Similarly, the Smallcap index was almost flat at 29,893 as against the day's low of 29,594.

The overall breadth also was positive - out of 3,448 stocks traded so far on the BSE, 1,862 declined and 1,482 had advanced.



In the broader markets, Swan Energy had zoomed nearly 16 per cent. Alok Textiles, Poonawalla Fincorp, Black Box, Kriloskar Brothers, IFB Industries, Dwarikesh Sugar, HLE Glasscoat, Filatex India, Jain Irrigation, JP Power, Future Consumer, Ion Exchange, Vardhman Holdings, Garment Mantra, ARSS Infra, Zee Learn, GP Petroleums, Nahar Capital, GRP, Banswara Syntex and Rossell India were the other major gainers.

Whereas, Home First Finance, Tube Investments, Zensar Technologies, Varun Beverages, India Tourism Development, Deep Polymers, Shree Rama Multi Tech, GTL, Nagreeka Capital, Banaras Beads, PolicyBazaar, Bannari Amman Spinning Mills, Vipul, SmartLink Holdings, Malu Paper Mills, TGB Banquets and NDTV were the other significant losers.
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Markets at Lunch (01:30 PM)

LIVE market updates: The key benchmark indices were marginally off the day's low on account of gains in telecom major Bharti Airtel and select financial shares.

The BSE Sensex, which touched a low of 59,290, was down 600 points at 59,620. The NSE Nifty had shed 180 points at 17,746

Among the Sensex 30 shares, UltraTech Cement was the major loser, down almost 3 per cent. It was followed by IT stocks, with the likes of Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, TCS and Infosys all down over 2 per cent each. The Nifty IT index had declined 4 per cent in the last two days. READ MORE

Kotak Bank, HDFC, Reliance, NTPC, PowerGrid and Tata Steel were the other prominent losers. On the positive side, Bharti Airtel had gained 1.7 per cent. Maruti and Bajaj Finance were also up around a per cent each.

Among sectoral performance, other than IT, the BSE Realty index had dropped 2 per cent. The Bankex, Energy and Power indices were the other significant losers. The Telecom index was up 1.3 per cent.



Meanwhile, the most of the major markets in Asia ended with significant losses. Japan's Nikkei tumbled nearly 3 per cent. Kospi shed 1.1 per cent, Taiwan slipped 0.7 per cent and Shanghai Composite was down 0.3 per cent. On the other hand, Hang Seng recouped losses and was up 0.3 per cent. Straits Times also gained 0.6 per cent.
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Markets at 12 noon

LIVE market updates: The benchmark indices remained firm in losses around the same levels in noon trade. The BSE Sensex was 850 points down at 59,371, while the NSE Nifty was 244 points lower at 17,680. 

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices, on the other hand, were seen holding losses, lower than that of the benchmarks. The two indices were down 0.4 and 0.2 per cent, respectively, as compared to a 1.3 per cent fall in the benchmarks.

Among MidCaps, Gujarat Gas, Vodafone Idea, Aditya Birla Capital, Gland Pharma, RBL Bank, Bharat Forge, and GMR Infra were the top gainers, up between 1.8-3 per cent.

NHPC, too was trading 2 per cent higher after the company on Wednesday said that it has signed a promoters agreement with Green Energy Development Corporation of Odisha (GEDCO) for the formation of a joint venture company. NHPC will hold 74 per cent stake in JV and the rest will be held by GEDCO.  

Sectorally, all indices were in red, led by Nifty IT and Realty indices, which were 2 per cent lower each. However, the BSE Telecom index was an outperformer and was trading over 2 per cent higher. Mahanagar Telephone, MTNL, Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, GTL Infra, Indus Tower, HFCL and GTPL Hathway were trading 0.8-5 per cent higher. 

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Markets at 11 AM

LIVE market updates: The frontline indices remained steady with heavy losses in morning deals with heavyweights RIL, HDFC Bank down nearly 2 per cent each, followed by banks and IT stocks. The BSE Sensex was 820 points lower at 59,402, and the NSE Nifty50 was at 17,691, down 234 points.

Other laggards included realty shares. Sobha, Oberoi Realty, IndiaBulls, Prestige, Macrotech Developers, DLF, Brigade and Phoneix, were trading down between 1.3-4 per cent on the NSE. The Realty index was down 2.2 per cent, followed by IT and Financials, down 1.8 and 1.5 per cent, respectively. 

Apart from Bharti Airtel and Maruti, all Sensex shares remained in the negative zone.

On the flip side, Future group companies were trading higher after the Delhi High Court on Wednesday stayed the arbitration proceedings in Singapore that passed the judgement in favour of Amazon. Future Retail, Future Enterprises, Future Consumer, and Future Lifestyle were up between 5-7 per cent on the BSE. 

  

Asian markets
Shares in Asia-Pacific declined in Thursday trade following losses overnight that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average registering its first decline of 2022.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 2.6 per cent, while the Topix index dipped 1.88 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 0.36 per cent. Hong Kong-listed shares of debt-ridden developer China Evergrande Group fell 0.63 per cent. The Shanghai composite in mainland China declined 0.16 per cent, while the Shenzhen component slipped 0.54 per cent. 

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Markets at 10 AM

LIVE market updates: The benchmark indices were deep in the red as they ended a streak of four-day gains with sharp losses on Thursday. The BSE Sensex was 680 points lower at 59,542, and the NSE Nifty was 17,730, lower by 195 points. The two indices were down over 1 per cent each. 

In tandem with this, the broader markets were also negative but were seen trimming losses. The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices were down 0.6 and 0.4 per cent, as compared to the 1 per cent fall in the benchmarks.

According to V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, the sharp cut in the US is unlikely to lead to similar cuts in India. Here Q3 results, budget expectations and macro data are likely to influence the market in the coming days.

Sectoral rotation in favour of financials, particularly leading banks, is a likely scenario in 2022. There are market signals and macro triggers favouring financials. So, market corrections may be used to buy high quality financials and large-cap IT, he said. 

Cement prices and demand are also firm indicating better prospects for the sector, he added.

Meanwhile, among the Sensex-30 pack, Bharti Airtel, Maruti and Ultratech Cement were the only gainers and were up 0.6 per cent, 1 per cent and 0.14 per cent, respectively. UBL, Hindalco and SBI Life, meanwhile, were the only additional gainers on the Nifty.

Nifty Bank and Nifty IT were down over 1 per cent each, and were the leading losers, among sectors. Sugar stocks, on the other hand, were seen bucking the weak market trend.

Dwarikesh Sugar, Renuka Sugar, Balram chini, Dalmia Bharat, Bajaj Hindusthan were trading between 4-8 per cent higher. This comes as the Centre has issued guidelines for restructuring of loans taken by mills from the Sugar Development Fund (SDF), providing a moratorium for two years and then repayment in five years to eligible defaulting factories.

Individually, the shares of Rama Steel Tubes (RSTL) hit a new high, and were frozen at the 5 per cent upper circuit at Rs 412.90 on the BSE on Thursday in an otherwise weak market on improved demand outlook. Since December 20, 2021, in 13 trading days, the stock of iron & steel products company has zoomed 89 per cent from levels of Rs 218.25. READ MORE.

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Opening Bell

LIVE market updates: Taking cues from the weak global sentiment, the benchmark indices opened sharply lower and were down up to 0.9 per cent.The BSE Sensex was 576 points lower at 59,647, while the NSE Nifty was at 17,744, lower by 180 points. 

In the broader market, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices were also in red, and were down 0.8 and 0.9 per cent, respectively. 

The volatility index on the NSE was up over 2 per cent, around 17 levels, indicating high levels of fears among investors. 

On the Sensex, only four stocks--Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's, Tata Steel were in the positive zone, trading 0.06-1.1 per cent higher. On the Nifty, Hindalco, UPL, Cipla and Coal India were the only additional companies in the green zone. 

Meanwhile, on the flip side, banking and IT stocks were the top losers. HDFC, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Kotak Bank, M&M, IndusInd Bank, RIL, ICICI Bank, and TCS were trading 0.9-1.8 per cent lower. 

Further, all sectoral indices were in the red zone, except Nifty Metals, which was up 0.3 per cent. Pharma too was flat on the NSE.  

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Pre-open session

LIVE market updates: The benchmark indices are expected to begin trade negatively on Thursday and were sharply lower in the pre-open session. The BSE Sensex was down 378 points at 59,844, while the NSE Nifty was at 17,786, lower by over 100 points. 

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LIVE market updates: The benchmark indices may start lower on Thursday given weak global cues. SGX Nifty futures were quoting at 17,790 level, over 100 points down, when compared to Nifty's spot close on Wednesday.

Among stocks, Bharti Airtel may be in focus as the company's subsidiary Airtel Africa Plc has received $159 million out of $176.1 million from the sale of its tower assets in Tanzania. The company will receive the remaining amount upon the completion of the transfer of towers to the purchaser, reports said. 

Further, HeroMotoCorp may also be eyed as Naveen Munjal-led Hero Electric Vehicles has moved the Delhi High Court seeking an injunction against the company using the word 'Hero' for its upcoming electric vehicle in March 2021.

That apart, stocks of a dozen firms that debuted recently may come under pressure as the mandatory one-month lock-in period for anchor investment expires from tomorrow. Five of these 12 companies -- RateGain, Shriram Properties, Data Patterns, Supriya Lifesciences and CMS Info Systems – had allocated more than 10 per cent of outstanding shares to anchor investors. 

Global cues

The US markets tanked sharply and Treasury yields jumped on Wednesday after minutes of the FOMC indicated that it may raise interest rates sooner than expected and also reduce its overall asset holdings to tame high inflation. 
 

Meanwhile, Dow Jones slid 1 per cent, the S&P 500 index shed 2 per cent and the Nasdaq tumbled 3 per cent.

Similarly, there was a sea of red across Asia this morning. Japan’s Nikkei had plunged 1.5 per cent. Kospi and Taiwan had declined 0.8 per cent each, while Straits Times was down 0.5 per cent.