India’s benchmark indices failed to hold on to gains made earlier in the session, and ended lower on Monday, dragged down by realty, oil & gas, and PSU bank stocks.
At 12.05 pm, the 30-share BSE index was down 1,428 points or 2.51 per cent at 55,583. While the broader NSE Nifty was trading 435 points or 2.56 per cent lower at 16,550.
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On the Nifty, Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Wipro, and SBI Life Insurance rose the most, while Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Consumer Products, Reliance Industries, and M&M were among the worst hit.
Except for Nifty IT, all other sectoral indices ended lower. The BSE MidCap index was down 0.5%, while the SmallCap index rose 0.2%.
All sectors traded in line with the index and ended lower wherein PSU, realty, media, and metal were the top losers. The broader indices also traded under pressure and lost nearly 4% each. Markets reacted to the news of a sharp jump in the COVID cases globally which may result in a lockdown.
Though the situation is under control domestically at present. But any impact on the global economic recovery would dent our prospects too. Besides, the continuous outflow of the foreign fund was also weighing on the sentiment.
Nifty 50 fall 2.5% and Bank Nifty fall 3.4% while pharma and FMCG held strong. Market falls today on the back of global concern along with omicron virus concern in India. Nifty 50 has touched the lows of 16411. While Bank Nifty has fallen more than the Nifty and touched the low of 34020.
Back home, selling pressure was visible across the sectors as all the 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Metal Index’s over 3 per cent decline. Nifty Bank, Auto, Financial Services, FMCG, IT, PSU Bank, Private Bank, Realty, and Consumer Durable indices also fell between 1.5-2.85 percent.
India has been undergoing a phase of consolidation in the last 2 months. Currently, sell-off is due to a rapid rise in FIIs selling triggered by hawkish world central banks’ policy, cautious view on Indian market due to high valuation compared to peers, and drop in retail inflows.
Is It Omicron’s worry?
The fall in Indian markets mirrors the decline in other Asian markets like Japan, Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan, which were down by as much as 2%. So, why are markets across Asia declining?
The impact of rising Covid-19 cases has already become visible. The Netherlands imposed a complete nationwide lockdown on Sunday, and media reports suggest that there is a possibility that this could spill over through Christmas and New Year.
The rapidly spreading Corona virus variant continued to spook investors as most countries in Europe scuttle to control the rising number of infections. Market experts believe another series of strict lockdowns could massively hurt the economic recovery prospects just a year after the global economy started taking baby steps to normalization.