The benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty fell for the second consecutive session on Monday, losing more than 0.5 percent due to selling in energy, banking, and financial stocks amid ongoing concerns about interest rates and inflation.
The BSE Sensex lost 311.03 points, or 0.51 percent, to close at 60,691.54 after reversing its early gains. The index opened higher at 61,112.84 and rose another 290 points to 61,290.19, the day’s high.
Even though, selling in index heavyweight Reliance Industries, the HDFC twins, ICICI Bank Maruti, and Kotak Bank dragged the barometer down to 60,607.02.The NSE Nifty dropped 99.60 points, or 0.56 percent, to 17,844.60, with 30 of its constituents falling and 20 advancing.
The Nifty reached an early high of 18,004.35 before falling to a low of 17,818.40.On Friday, the Sensex dropped nearly 317 points, while the Nifty fell 91 points.
Among the major laggards in the Sensex pack were Maruti, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries, Nestle, and ICICI Bank.The major winners included UltraTech Cement, Tech Mahindra, Power Grid, Infosys, Tata Motors, HCL Technologies, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Bharti Airtel.
“Stocks are falling ahead of the release of Federal Reserve minutes on Wednesday. The Fed is expected to maintain its hawkish stance on inflation. It is unlikely to have a negative impact on the global stock market, as expected.”
However, the consequence of persistently high-interest rates is causing a slowdown in demand and earnings expectations, so the near-term trend will be cautious,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Markets began the week on a sour note, losing more than half a percent in continuation of the recent decline. “Constant pressure in the banking and financial pack, combined with a drop in energy majors, kept the tone negative,” said Ajit Mishra, VP – of Technical Research, at Religare Broking Ltd.
The markets today were dragged down by a decline in banking stocks, and for the majority of the trading session, they were in the red. Factors such as additional rate hikes, rising inflation, and the recent Adani saga continue to weigh on investors’ minds.”
Also, Indian stocks are still expensive in comparison to China, so investors are taking advantage of this opportunity to reduce their holdings,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), at Kotak Securities Ltd.
In the broader market, the BSE smallcap index fell 0.16 percent, while the midcap index fell 0.12 percent.Oil and gas fell 1.12 percent, banks fell 1.06 percent, energy (0.99 percent), financial services (0.90 percent), realty (0.72 percent), and telecommunications fell 0.72 percent (0.70 per cent).
IT, auto, tech, and services benefited.Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and China all finished in the black in Asian markets.European markets were falling. On Friday, the US markets ended on a mixed note.Brent crude rose 0.95 percent to USD 83.79 per barrel, the international oil benchmark.According to exchange data, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs.624.61 crore on Friday.
