Sensex Falls Over 450 Points, Nifty Trades Below 16,900; IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance Among Top Drags

The overall market breadth was weak as 1,064 shares were advancing while 1,530 were declining on BSE.

New Delhi: The Indian equity benchmarks fell on Monday led by losses in IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv. Asian stock markets were generally weaker with U.S. crude in holiday-thinned trading, as uncertainty over the economic impact of the Omicron coronavirus variant weighed on investor sentiment.

China reported its highest daily rise in local Covid-19 cases in 21 months over the weekend as infections more than doubled in the northwestern city of Xian, the country’s latest Covid hot spot. Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.20 per cent while South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.11 per cent. Mainland Chinese shares, though, were mixed, with Shanghai’s benchmark sliding 0.37 per cent but an index of blue chips edged 0.05 per cent higher.

“There is concern over the widening spread of the Omicron variant, which is overall making people cautious about taking stocks higher” in Japan, a market participant at a Japanese securities firm, told news agency Reuters.

Back home, as of 9:18 am, the 30-share Sensex pack was down 465 points or 0.81 per cent at 56,659 and the broader NSE Nifty moved 130 points or 0.76 per cent lower to 16,874.

Mid- and small-cap shares were trading in red as Nifty Midcap 100 index was down 1.05 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index plunged 1.08 per cent.

On the stock-specific front, IndusInd Bank was the top Nifty gainer as the stock cracked 4.94 per cent to Rs 818.65. Axis Bank, Tata Consumer Products, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank were also among the laggards.

On the flipside, Cipla, Sun Pharma, Divi’s Lab and PowerGrid were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was weak as 1,064 shares were advancing while 1,530 were declining on BSE.

On the BSE platform, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank and Asian Paints attracted the most losses with their shares sliding as much as 5.36 per cent in early trade.

RBL Bank tanked as much as 14.98 per cent after its top executive stepped down and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appointed an executive to its board.

Sensex had ended 190.97 points or 0.33 per cent lower at 57,124.31 on Friday; while the broader NSE Nifty declined 68.85 points or 0.40 per cent to settle at 17,003.75.