Markets in a bloodbath on broad-based selloff; Sensex erases 58k, Nifty 50 near 17,350; Largecap stocks worst hit

11 Feb 2022 , 10:25 AM

Friday’s opening bell was a bloodbath as bears ran over Indian markets on a broader term. Deep red shade took over every sectoral index on BSE and NSE. All 30 scrips comprising of large-cap companies majorly on Sensex were in a steep fall. IT, Banking, Consumer Durables, Capital Goods, Pharma, Financials and FMCG stocks were worst hit. Midcap and SmallCap stocks witnessed sharp selling pressure as well.

The selloff in domestic equities comes after RBI’s monetary policy outcome where repo rate and stance were kept unchanged at 4% and accommodative once again on an expected line. However, panic profit booking emerged amid weak global cues that were an aftershock of US inflation which has hit a 40-year high to 7.5% – fueling expectations of policy tightening and aggressive rate hikes ahead.

Stocks like Hero MotoCorp, M&M and Hindalco will be in focus after their Q3 earnings, while stocks like ONGC, Divis Labs, Ashok Leyland, Motherson Sumi Systems, Oil India, India Cements, Sobha, NHPC, Power Finance Corporation, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Godrej Industries, MOIL, and Allcargo Logistics will log major movements ahead of their quarterly financial performance scheduled for later today.

At around 10.24 am, Sensex was trading at 57,999.98 down by 926.05 points or 1.6%. The index has touched an intraday high of 57,914.10.

Top bears on Sensex were – Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, Titan, L&T, Nestle, HDFC and Wipro plunging between 2-3%. Other stocks like Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Bank, HCL Tech, ICICI Bank, SBI, Ultratech Cement, TCS, Power Grid, Dr Reddy’s Lab, Asian Paint, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma, HUL, Reliance Industries and Axis Bank tumbled between 0.5-2%.

Nifty 50 performed at 17,346.40 lower by 259.45 points or 1.5%. The index has touched an intraday low of 17,304.80.

In terms of sectoral indices, on BSE, the IT index slipped nearly 825 points and the Consumer Durables shed over 851 points. The Bankex and Capital Goods index tumbled nearly 565 points and 450 points. The Healthcare index dipped nearly 210 points. The Finance and FMCG index dropped over 1% each.

On the global front, Asian markets were in the red as a massive profit booking was carried in technology stock. Meanwhile, the Japanese ‘Nikkei’ closed for a holiday expect Chinese stocks to dominate the trend in Asia. Metals have seen a stellar run in the last week & could be subject to profit booking.

On Wall Street, overnight, US markets see a big sell-off as inflation hits 7.5% or a 40 year high with bond yields hitting 2.03%. Dow Jones falls over 500 points while Nasdaq closes lower by over 300 points.US$ closes unchanged near 95.51, while oil prices rise moderately with stocks seeing weakness across the board.