Benchmark share indices ended nearly 3% down on Monday, amid weak European cues, on concerns that high crude oil prices would fuel inflation further delaying the lowering of key rates by the central bank. The fall was led by index heavyweaights and rate sensitive shares.
The Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-share Sensex provisionally closed at 17,434 down 490 points. The National Stock Exchange’s 50-share S&P CNX Nifty provisionally closed at 5,281 down 148 points.
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Update at 14:30
Markets have collapsed further with banking, capital goods, realty and metal shares leading the downslide. Weak opening of the European markets has further dampened sentiment among local investors. The Sensex and the Nifty are trading below 17,600 mark and 5,300 levels, respectively.
By 1430 hrs, the Sensex was down 423 points at 17501 and the 50-share Nifty slashed down 138 points at 5,291.
On the global front, the Nikkei closed lower by 13 points at 9,633 levels, Hang Seng was down 223 points at 21,183. However, Shanghai and Taiwan ended marginally higher. European markets are trading weak with CAC-40, DAX and FTSE-100 declining by almost 1% each.
Back home, BSE Realty, Metal and Power indices have plunged by almost 4% followed by sectors like Capital Goods, Auto, Banks, Consumer Durable and Oil & Gas, all declining between 2-3%. Apart from FMCG, all the major BSE sectoral indices are trading in red zone.
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Metal index has plunged over 5%, its sharpest fall in past 21 months, on concerns that weak Chinese consumption data and rising oil prices which touched 10-month highs last week might dampen industrial growth. Metal stocks like Jindal Steel, Tata Steel, Hindalco and Cola India have fallen between 3-6%. Sesa Goa has slipped more than 10% due to merger of Sterlite with the company.
Banking shares like ICICI Bank and SBI have between 3-4% on profit taking.
HDFC has extended the losses and is down by nearly 2% after Citigroup Inc which holds around 145 million shares, or a 9.9% stake, in the company sold its entire stake at an average market price of Rs 670 per share via block deals.
Capital Goods capital goods major L&T and BHEL have declined between 4-5%. BHEL has dropped on reports that Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on Friday scrapped the 1,600 megawatt (MW) power joint venture (JV) and announced that the government would fully fund the project itself.
From the realty pack, DLF has dropped by over 5%.
Hero MotoCorp is the top Sensex loser, down 7%. Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, M&M and Tata Motors have slipped between 3-4%.
Index heavyweights like Reliance Industries and Infosys are down between 2-3%.
Meanwhile, BSE Midcap index has plunged by 3% whereas BSE Smallcap index has declined 2.8%.
The market breadth in BSE remains unhealthy with 2136 shares advancing and 592 shares declining.