Overall market breadth was extremely bearish as 1,838 shares closed lower on the BSE.
The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes ended lower after a day’s pause from the worst seven-day rout of 2020 in the previous session as rising cases of deadly coronavirus in the country dampened investor sentiment. The Sensex slumped as much as 778 points to hit an intraday low of 37,846 and the Nifty briefly dropped below 11,100. However, buying in information technology and pharma shares helped the benchmarks recover from intraday low levels.
The Sensex ended 214 points or 0.5 per cent lower at 38,409 and the Nifty closed at 11,251, down 52 points or 0.46 per cent.
“Investor sentiment is getting impacted due to rising cases of coronavirus in the country. Given the current scenario, Nifty can go down 10,950 levels which will be a good point to enter the markets,” AK Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital told NDTV over the phone.
India recorded its biggest jump in coronavirus cases today as 15 Italian tourists – who landed in Delhi last month – and one Indian, who was travelling with them, tested positive for the illness, taking the total number of cases to 28.
Nine of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower. Banking shares were the worst hit in today’s session. The banking sector gauge – Nifty Bank index dropped 505 points or 1.7 per cent to close at 28,672. Nifty Private Bank, Financial Services, media and Realty sector gauges also dropped over a per cent each.
On the other hand, Nifty Pharma index was top gainer, up 2 per cent.
Mid- and small-cap shares also witnessed selling pressure as the Nifty Midcap 100 index dropped 1.5 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index tumbled 1.6 per cent.
Yes Bank was top loser in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock fell 6 per cent to Rs 29.30. Eicher Motors, Bajaj Finance, ITC, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, UltraTech Cement, HDFC Bank and Bharat Petroleum also fell between 2.6-4 per cent.
On the flipside, Cipla, Dr. Reddy’s Labs, Sun Pharma, Power Grid, GAIL India and Tech Mahindra were among the notable gainers.
The overall market breadth was extremely bearish as 1,838 shares closed lower while 477 closed higher on the BSE.
