Mid, Smallcap indices slip over 5%; SpiceJet hits 10% lower circuit

Speciality Restaurants, Kirloskar Ferrous, RPP Infra, Chennai Petroleum, Rane Holdings, Shalimar Paints, RK Forgings and Safari Industries from the smallcap index tumbled over 10%

Shares of mid-and-smallcap companies were under severe pressure on Monday, with the S&P BSE Midcap and S&P BSE Smallcap indices slipping over 5 per cent as investors booked profits after European markets opened with sharp cuts.

At 02:33 pm, the S&P BSE Midcap index and the S&P BSE Smallcap index were down 5.4 per cent each, as compared to 3.3 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex on the back of Covid resurgence in some European countries and concerns over possible lockdown restrictions as a result of the same. Since November, these indices had rallied 19.5 per cent, against 18.5 per cent gain in the benchmark index, till Friday.

Speciality Restaurants, Kirloskar Ferrous Industries, RPP Infra Projects, Chennai Petroleum Corporation, Rane Holdings, Shalimar Paints, Ramkrishna Forgings and Safari Industries from the smallcap index tanked more than 10 per cent. The New India Assurance Company, Tata Power Company, Federal Bank, RBL Bank, Ashok Leyland and Canara Bank from the midcap index slipped between 8 per cent and 10 per cent.

In the auto space, companies with exposure to Europe such as Tata Motors, Motherson Sumi, and Apollo Tyres slid 6-7 per cent in trade. Shares of SpiceJet were locked in lower circuit of 10 per cent at Rs 91.45 over the UK border closure

According to PTI report, the Union Health Ministry has called an urgent meeting of its Joint Monitoring Group today to discuss the emergence of a mutated variant of the coronavirus in the UK, which has led to a surge in the infection rate there.

A number of European countries have banned flights from the UK as the British government warned that the potent new strain of the virus was "out of control" and imposed a stringent new stay-at-home lockdown from Sunday. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL REPORT