Metals, financials drag indices; Sensex falls 338 pts, Nifty holds 14,900

Stock market updates: Benchmark indices turned sharply lower during the fag-end of the session, after staying flat for better part of the day, as US stock futures indicated a weak session on Wall Street later today. 

Dalal Street investors took cues from Dow Jones Futures, that tumbled nearly 200 points in early pre-market deals, and booked profit largely in metal, financials, and FMCG counters. S&P 500 and Nasdaq Futures also slipped 20 points and 60 points, respectively, suggesting a third straight session of declines in the US. That apart, weekly expiry of the F&O contracts and FPI selling added to the volatility.

By close, the BSE barometer of 30-shares was down 338 points, or 0.68 per cent, at 49,565 levels while the Nifty50 index quoted at 14,906 levels, down 124 points or 0.83 per cent. In the intra-day trade, the indices hit a low of 49,497 and 14,885, respectively.

Heavyweights HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, TCS, and HDFC contributed the most towards the indices' losses as they declined between 0.5 per cent and 1.5 pe cent.

Individually, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Coal India, Britannia, ONGC, IOC, Sun Pharma, Power Grid, UPL, and Tata Motors were the top laggards at the bourses in the large-cap space while M&M, Cipla, BPCL, IndusInd Bank, Titan, L&T, and SBI remained top gainers. 

Sectorally, metal stocks witnessed profit booking after China said it will strengthen its management of commodity supply and demand to curb any "unreasonable" increases in prices. Prices for commodities such as coal, steel, iron ore and copper – of which China is the world's biggest user – have surged this year, fuelled by post-lockdown recoveries in demand and easing liquidity globally.

In effect, the Nifty Metal index sunk over 3 per cent with Tata Steel, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), and Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) sliding 5 per cent each, while Coal India, National Aluminium Company, NMDC, Vedanta, and JSW Steel declining between 2 per cent and 4 per cent in the intra-day trade. READ MORE

That apart, the Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Private Bank, and FMCG indices slipped nearly 1 per cent each. On the upside, the Nifty Realty index remained gainer for second straight day and ended 1 per cent higher on the NSE. 

Cheap valuations, however, drew investors towards smallcaps. The S&P BSE SmallCap index hit a record high of 23,093 levels in the intra-day trade today but closed at 22,980.5 levels, up 0.22 per cent. Among individual stocks, Automotive Axles, Gayatri Projects, Shakti Pumps, Pokarna, TV Today, TCI Express, Just Dial, Walchandnagar Industries, SORIL Infra Resources, H.G. Infra Engineering, Shivam Auto and Emami Realty rallied between 10 per cent and 20 per cent in the intra-day session today. READ MORE

The S&P BSE MidCap index, meanwhile, ended 0.12 per cent lower today.

Global markets

World stocks traded with gains across most regions. In Europe, the pan-European STOXX 600 index added 0.5 per cent while Germany's DAX was up 0.24 per cent. France's CAC 40 index, too, climbed 0.15 per cent in early deals.

In Asia, barring South Korea's Kospi, which slipped 0.34 per cent, all other major indices ended with gains. Japan's Nikkei was last up 0.2 per cent, Australia's S&P/ASX200 advanced 1.3 per cent, and China's CSI300 index rallied 0.3 per cent.