Sensex dips 627 pts as investors book profit on last trading day of FY21

Stock market updates: Equity markets ended the last trading session of the financial year 2020-21 (FY21) on a tepid note as profit-booking in the private banking and IT sector outweighed buying in PSU banking, FMCG, and realty sectors. The headline S&P BSE Sensex settled the day at 49,509 levels, down 627 points or 1.25 per cent, while the broader Nifty50 ended at 16,691 levels, after erasing 154 points or 1 per cent.

20 of the 30 constituents on the Sensex ended the day in the red with HDFC Bank, HDFC, Power Grid, Tech Mahindra, ONGC, ICICI Bank, Infosys, and Bajaj Finance leading the list of losers. On the Nifty, the list also included the likes of Hero MotoCorp, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries, and Coal India. All these stocks were down in the range of 1 per cent to 5 per cent.

On the upside, Bajaj Finserv, ITC, SBI, HUL, Tata Motors, UPL, and Grasim surged up to 4 per cent.

The overall market breadth remained neck and neck amid buying in broader markets. The S&P BSE MidCap index ended 0.07 per cenr higher while the S&P BSE SmallCap inndex advnced 0.52 per cent.

FY21 Wrap

Despite the economy slipping into recession and all activity coming to a standstill for a few months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, markets registered their best financial year performance in a decade.

The S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty50 have rallied 68 per cent and 70.8 per cent, respectively in FY21. Earlier during FY10, the S&P BSE Sensex had surged 80.5 per cent, while Nifty50 rallied 73.7 per cent.

The gains in mid-and small-caps have, in fact, been sharper with both the indices rallying 91 per cent and 115 per cent, respectively on the BSE. READ MORE

Global markets

Global stocks wavered on Wednesday while the safe-haven dollar held near five-month highs as Treasury yields resumed their upward march before US President Joe Biden announces a multitrillion-dollar plan to rebuild America’s infrastructure.

Europe's regional STOXX 600 index was up 0.2 per cent, while Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.1 per cent.

In Asia, MSCI’s All Country World Index, which tracks stocks across 49 countries, traded 0.1 per cent lower. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of Japan fell 0.3 per cent, its first monthly loss in five months.

China's blue-chip index sank 0.9 per cent and Japan's Nikkei slid 0.9 per cent as investors sold financial shares amid growing uncertainty over the fallout from the margin calls that brought down Archegos Capital.

(With inputs from Reuters)