Markets settle in deep red amid weak global cues; Sensex sheds over 1,747 pts, Nifty 50 holds over 16,840; Except TCS, all stocks nosedive on benchmarks

14 Feb 2022 , 03:42 PM

Indian markets ended in deep red on Monday’s trading session due to broad-based selloff which was fueled by weak global cues as concerns over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine boiled crude oil prices to a seven-year high. All sectoral indices on BSE and NSE closed on a bearish tone. Broadly, small-cap stocks faced a heavy beating, but a significant decline was seen in Midcap and Large-caps as well.

Banking, Consumer Durables, Metals, Capital Goods, Oil & Gas, Financials and FMCG stocks bled the most. TCS, however, was the only stock that outshined broader markets and stayed in the green during the closing on both BSE and NSE. Coal India, Eicher Motors, SpiceJet, Adani Enterprises, Natco Pharma and NMDC stocks were in focus following their Q3 earnings.

The wild profit booking in stocks at home also comes after industrial output declines to a 10-month low shrugging off support from easing in wholesale price inflation. Sensex has dipped to below 56,300 and Nifty 50 nosedived till near 16,800.

Sensex closed 56,405.84 down by 1747.08 points or 3%, while Nifty 50 settled at 16,842.80 lower by 531.95 points or 3.06%.

On the closing, BSE SmallCap settled with a drop of over 1,190 points. Sensex Next 50 shed nearly 1,735 points. MidCap index on BSE dived over 3.5%.

In terms of sectoral indices, on BSE, the Bankex slipped over 1,872 points, whereas the Capital Goods, Consumer Durables and Metal index plummetted by over 1,016 points, 1,143 points and 1,064 points. Sectors like Oil & Gas, FMCG, Finance, Healthcare, Industrials and Auto fell between 2-4%.

Heavyweight TCS was the only gainer on both BSE and NSE. The stock closed around 1% but has surged by nearly 3% today after the board fixed February 23 as the record date for the most-awaited Rs18,000cr buyback.

Under bears list, Tata Steel and HDFC led the selloff with a 5.5% and 5.3% drop. Maruti Suzuki, Kotak Bank, IndusInd Bank and ICICI Bank dived between 4-4.8%. Stocks like L&T, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, ITC, M&M, NTPC, Ultratech Cement, Bajaj Finance and HDFC Bank plunged between 2-3.75%.

India’s wholesale price index (WPI) inflation eases to 12.96% (provisional) in January 2022 compared to 14.87% in November 2021 and 13.56% in December 2021. This indicates that WPI has maintained its downward trend consistently. In January 2022, the WPI rose to 12.96% primarily due to a rise in prices of mineral oils, crude petroleum & natural gas, basic metals, chemicals and chemical products, food articles etc as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.