Sensex closes 1190 points down; metal, banking stocks slump

Mumbai: The Indian equities markets key indices tumbled more than two per cent on Monday due to huge selloffs in metal and banking stocks on fears that rising Omicron cases would derail the economic recovery.

The 30 stock S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange started the week deep in the red on negative cues from the global markets. The benchmark Sensex ended the day at 55,822.01, 2.09 per cent or 1189.73 points lower from its previous close at 57,011.74 points.
The markets witnessed massive selloffs during the day with Sensex plunging to a low of 55,132.68 points, over 3 per cent down from its previous session close.

The broader Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange crashed 2.18 per cent or 371 points to 16,614.20 points. The Nifty 50 slumped to a low of 16,410.20 points in the intra-day.

There was massive selling pressure in metal, banking, and financial stocks. S&P BSE Bankex tumbled 3.12 per cent to 39,189.74 per cent. Metal index of the BSE dipped nearly 4 per cent.

Tata Steel slumped 5.20 per cent to Rs.1072.95. IndusInd Bank tumbled 4.23 per cent to Rs 845.85. State Bank of India dipped 3.97 per cent to Rs 449.20.

Selling pressure was across the board. 17 of the 30 Sensex crisped closed more than 2 per cent down. Bajaj Finance 3.89 per cent down at Rs 6633.75; HDFC Bank 3.14 per cent down at Rs 1426.60; Kotak Bank 2.93 per cent down at Rs 1741.75; NTPC 2.91 per cent down at Rs 121.85 and Reliance Industries 2.73 per cent down at Rs 2277.20 were among the major Sensex losers.

The Indian equities markets key indices have closed in the red six out of the past seven trading sessions. Rising cases of Omicron has hit investors’ sentiments in the equities markets across the world. Weakness in the major global equities markets and concerns over inflation and other macroeconomic data has negatively affected the investors’ sentiments in the Indian equities.

Only two of the 30 Sensex scrips closed in the positive. Hindustan Unilever closed 1.70 per cent higher at Rs 2268.30 and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories ended the day 0.94 per cent higher at Rs 4559.35.