India’s equity benchmark fell for a third straight day on Tuesday dragging on losses from index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC and HDFC Bank as the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant weighs on investor sentiment globally. of a series of central bank meetings this week, including that of the US Federal Reserve. Sensex dropped 480 points and the Nifty 50 index hit an intraday low of 17,225.
The Sensex closed 166 points lower at 58,117 and the Nifty 50 index fell 43 points to 17,325.
“The biggest concern the market has right now is the spread of the Omicron variant. A lot of information is still unknown,” Saurabh Jain, assistant vice president at SMC Securities told Reuters news agency.
“Also, with several central bank meetings this week, the market wants to know what the pace of liquidity tightening will be despite the extremely dovish Reserve Bank of India.”
Among individual stocks, Anand Rathi Wealth opened with a high of 9% in its Mumbai market debut. Drugmaker Lupin Ltd jumped 6.2% after its Goa factory received an establishment inspection report from the US federal drug regulator.
Eight of the 15 industry measures compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower as the Nifty PSU Bank index fell 0.7%. The Nifty Realty, Private Banking, Financial Services, FMCG and Automotive indexes also ended negative.
On the other hand, Media, metals, pharmaceuticals and healthcare stocks are seeing buying interest.
Mid-cap and small-cap stocks ended mixed, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index falling 0.2% while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index gaining 0.2%.
Tata Consumer Products was the biggest loser in Nifty, with shares down 1.2% to close at 489. Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv, Sun Pharma, Mahindra & Mahindra, Grasim Industries, HDFC Life, HDFC, Indian Oil, HDFC Bank, Eicher Motors and UltraTech Cement were also among the losers.
On the other hand, Power Grid, Divi’s Labs, Axis Bank, Nestle India, Dr Reddy’s Labs, UPL, Titan and Adani Ports were among the gainers.
Market breadth was generally positive as 1,802 shares advanced while 1,507 shares closed lower on the BSE.
