Markets extend losses despite positive cues; Sensex near 59,700, Nifty 50 below 17,850; IT underperforms; RIL, TCS, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv, HCL Tech top bears

20 Jan 2022 , 10:20 AM

Indian markets nosedived in Thursday’s early trade with the benchmark Sensex erasing 61,000-mark and Nifty 50 giving up 17,900-level. IT stocks dragged the benchmarks the most with substantial pulls from capital goods, consumer durables, oil & gas, select financial stocks and index heavyweight Reliance Industries. Metal stocks gave some support as they outperformed counterparts.

At home, corporate earnings season are in focus and swaying markets mood. The performance in domestic equities is despite the broader markets in Asia being on a positive front.

At around 10.20 am, Sensex was trading at 59,717.28  down by 381.54 points or 0.63%. The stock was near the day’s low of 59,703.53.

Nifty 50 performed at 17,842 below 96.40 points or 0.54%. The index was near the intraday low of 17,833.95.

In terms of sectoral indices, on BSE, the IT index dipped by over 350 points, while the Metal index surged over 110 points.

Top bulls on Sensex were – Power Grid, Maruti Suzuki, Ultratech Cement, Nestle, NTPC and Bharti Airtel.

Top bears on Sensex were – Infosys, RIL, HCL Tech, TCS and Bajaj Finserv slumping between 1-2%.

Companies that are set to announce their Q3 are – Hindustan Unilever, Biocon, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, Havells India, Persistent Systems, PNB Housing Finance, Agro Tech Foods, Bajaj Holdings & Investment, Century Textiles & Industries, Container Corporation Of India, Cyient, Datamatics Global Services, Hatsun Agro Product, Lyka Labs, Bank Of Maharashtra, Mphasis, Reliance Industrial Infrastructure, Sasken Technologies, Shoppers Stop, South Indian Bank, Vimta Labs and VST Industries

On the global front, Asian stocks were in a stellar rally with Hang Seng and Nikkei 225 skyrocketing by 2.3% and 1.2%. The remaining markets were also in the green with marginal to about 0.5% gains. US futures also rose.

Investors sentiments were boosted from a halt in the global sovereign-bond selloff and also they observed the possible measures to ease the cash crunch in China’s struggling realty sector.

Overnight, on Wall Street, US markets see another day of weakness as markets adjust to the possibility of higher rates in 2022 with the Federal Reserve determined to control inflation. Nasdaq closes lower by 160 points or corrects 10% from recent highs as money exits technology stocks to buy fixed income. Dow Jones closes lower by over 330 points after being up 180 in the intraday trade. Bond yields close lower at 1.83% while the US$ index sees weakness to close near 95.43.