Mid-cap and small-cap stocks also faced selling pressure.
India’s equity benchmarks collapsed on Monday with 30 Sensex shares falling more than 1,800 points, or 3.2%, and the Nifty 50 index breaking below the key psychological level of 16,450 as the spread of Omicron variant of Coronavirus shakes investor sentiment. The spread of the new Covid-19 variant Omicron has raised concerns about stalling inflation, analysts said. Stagnant inflation is a scenario with rising inflation and stagnant or declining economic growth due to the spread of Omicron and expectations of lockdowns.
As of 1:02 pm, the Sensex was down 1,752 points or 3% to 55,272 and the Nifty 50 index was down 543 points or 3.2% to 16,442.
Asian stock markets fell and oil prices slid on Monday as soaring Omicron Covid-19 cases triggered tighter restrictions in Europe and threatened to sweep the global economy into the new year.
Beijing eased the mood a bit by cutting its one-year lending rate during the frosty period for 20 months, though some also expect the five-year rate to ease.
China’s blue-chips were still down 0.4%, while the MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.8%. Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.7% and South Korean stocks fell 1.2%.
S&P 500 futures fell 0.8% and Nasdaq futures fell nearly 1%. EUROSTOXX 50 futures lost 1.1% and FTSE futures 1.0%.
The spread of Omicron sent the Netherlands into lockdown on Sunday and put pressure on others to watch, although the United States appeared to remain open.
At home, selling pressure was evident across industries as all 15 industry measures compiled by the National Stock Exchange traded lower, led by the Nifty Metal Index, which fell more than 3%. Indexes of Nifty Bank, Auto, Financial Services, FMCG, IT, PSU Bank, Private Bank, Realty and Consumer Durable also fell in the range of 1.5-2.85%.
Small- and mid-cap stocks were also under selling pressure as the Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 2.76% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index fell nearly 3%.
Forty-eight stocks in the Nifty 50 basket are trading lower as Bajaj Finance is down 4%. JSW Steel, Tata Steel, State Bank of India, Bharat Petroleum, Tata Motors, ONGC, HDFC Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, Hindalco and Bajaj Finserv also fell by 2.5-3.6%.
On the other hand, Cipla and Sun Pharma were among the notable gainers.
Market breadth was extremely bearish with 2,389 shares falling while 568 stocks gained on the BSE.
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