Sensex plunges 491 points on rising oil prices, trade skirmishes

Equity benchmark indices slumped over 1.25 per cent on Monday amid rising crude oil prices and trade tensions as investors feared prospects of de-growth in the global economy.

The BSE S & P Sensex sank 491 points at 38,961 while the Nifty 50 closed 151 points down to settle at 11,672. At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), all sectoral indices were in the negative zone.

Nifty metal was down 2.8 per cent while the auto index declined by 1.7 per cent. PSU banks, financial services and realty also took a beating as selling pressure mounted.

Trade war fears escalated after India imposed retaliatory tariffs on certain US products in response to Washington's decision to remove certain trade privileges for New Delhi.

Traders said foreign institutional investors are increasingly turning cautious as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East show no immediate signs of subsiding.

Shares of Jet Airways tumbled further by 16.76 per cent to an all-time low of Rs 68.30 per share as lenders planned a meeting on revival of the grounded airline. Reports said the Income Tax Department has summoned Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal for questioning in relation with an alleged case of tax invasion.

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Capital suffered a decline of 6.73 per cent to close at Rs 71.40 per share. Reliance Infrastructure slipped 4.72 per cent to Rs 56.50 per share after the company reported its worst-ever net loss of Rs 3,301 crore in the January to March quarter of fiscal 2018-19.

Shriram Transport Finance dropped 6.15 per cent to Rs 1,015 per share as Piramal Enterprises offloaded its entire 9.96 per cent stake in the non-banking financial company of Chennai-based Shriram Group.

Tata Steel fell by 5.8 per cent, JSW Steel by 3.8 per cent, Tata Motors by 3.5 per cent, Indiabulls Housing Finance by 3.4 per cent and ONGC by 3.2 per cent. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries too dropped by 2.7 per cent.

However, Yes Bank, Coal India and Wipro showed marginal gains.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks markets were mixed at the start of the week. Japanese and Australian shares saw modest losses while equities in Hong Kong opened with gains.

Still, investors remained cautious as continuing trade dispute between the United States and China as well as political tensions in the Middle East kept risk-appetite in check.

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