Bloody Monday! Markets nosedive amid Russia-Ukraine tension; Sensex near 52k, Nifty50 below 15,900

7 Mar 2022 , 09:41 AM

Indian markets were bleeding in red during Monday’s early trade due to weakening in global markets as concerns over the Russian invasion of Ukraine fuels panic profit booking and crude oil reaching a multi-year high. A broad-based sell-off was witnessed across indices on exchanges BSE and NSE with Sensex diving to near 52,800-level and Nifty 50 even reaching near 15,800-level.

On the global front, Asian indices hit bleak milestones on growing investor concerns about the economic fallout of the war in Ukraine and sustained regulatory pressure on China’s technology sector as well.

At around 9:45 AM, Sensex was trading at 52,989.42 nosediving by 1344.39 points or 2.47%. The index has touched an intraday low of 52,816.10.

Nifty 50 performed at 15,870.80 lower by 374.55 points or 2.31%. The benchmark has clocked the day’s low of 15,840.45.

On the broader markets, on BSE, Midcap and Smallcap dipped by nearly 650 points and 720 points respectively. Sensex Next 50 slipped over 1,200 points.

In terms of sectoral indices, on NSE, except metals, all other indices were under deep red during early trade. The Banking sector was the worst hit with a drop of nearly 1,320 points with Auto, realty, financial stocks. The Auto and IT index dropped over 440 points and 500 points. Meanwhile, the Realty and media index shed between 3-4%. The metal index unlike its counterparts held the steady gains despite broader bearish markets.

Bears on Nifty50 index were Bajaj Finance and Maruti Suzuki dived over 5.5% each, while ICICI Bank and Eicher Motors plunged over 5% each. Stocks like L&T, Tata Motors, M&M, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, fell between 4-5%. 

On the global front, Asian markets opened in the red led by the Japanese ‘Nikkei’ which was trading lower by over 800 points in early trade as a spike in crude sees globally markets scramble for cover. This has seen mostly all Asian markets get hurt as major importers to see huge underperformance.

Also, US markets see further weakness on Friday as escalation on Nuclear facility sees near term panic in most global equity markets. Dow Jones falls over 540 points before closing lower by 179 while Nasdaq sees further weakness to close lower by over 220 points. Bond yields fall to 1.69% even as crude rises to 10 year high @ US$ 128 for Brent as US bans import of Russian oil.

Globally, markets mood has been soured due to tensions escalating in Russia and Ukraine. Further, as the conflict worsened, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to speak to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy today.