Sensex sinks 305 points; Nifty falls 66 points

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Indian stock markets opened in deep red on Monday led by negative global cues.  Sensex at 49,552 falls 305 points or 0.60%, while the broader market index Nifty50 was down 66 points or 0.45% at 14,677 amid renewed concerns of a possible lockdown due to spike COVID-19 cases in the country.

Dr Reddy’s, Bajaj Finance, Sun Pharma, Asian Paints and M&M were the top gainers on the Sensex. Whereas, stocks like Powergrid, Reliance, L&T, HDFC Bank & ICICI Bank were the laggards falling in the range of 0.68-1.24%.

Sectorally, Nifty Bank lost over 1%, being the top loser. Nifty Metal, Nifty Auto & Nifty FMCG fell almost 0.30%. Nifty Pharma jumped close to 1%, while Nifty IT rose 0.17%.

However, the broader markets outperformed their benchmark peers, as BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices were trading with gains of 0.20% and 0.24%, respectively.

The market breadth remained positive with 1,004 stocks advancing compared to 731 shares declining and 529 companies remained unchanged on the NSE.

Stocks in spotlight Bharti Airtel said that the company has entered into an Agreement on March 19, 2021, for the acquisition of 1,743,560 (7.48%) equity shares in Sandhya Hydro Power Project Balargha, a special purpose vehicle formed for the purpose of owning and operating the Captive Power Plant, in terms of the regulatory requirement for captive power consumption under electricity laws.

Adani Green Energy announced that it has signed a share purchase agreement for the acquisition of a 100% stake in an SPV holding 50 MW operating solar project of the Toronto-headquartered SkyPower Global.

Bharat Dynamics has signed a contract for the production and supply of Milan-2T Anti-Tank Guided Missiles. The contract value is Rs 1188.12 crore including GST.

JSW Future Energy (earlier known as JSW Solar), a wholly-owned subsidiary of JSW Energy, has received Letters of Award for a total Wind capacity of 450 MW from Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) against Tariff based Competitive Bid invited by SECI for setting up of 1200 MW ISTS-connected Wind Power Projects (Tranche – X).

Great Eastern Shipping Company signed a contract to buy a secondhand Midsize Gas Carrier of about 35,188 cbm. The 2006 Korean built vessel is expected to join the company’s fleet in Q1 FY 2021-22.

Global markets

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading mixed on Monday as investors watched moves in the Turkish lira following a sudden upheaval at the country’s central bank. The Turkish lira slumped toward a record low versus the dollar after President Tayyip Erdogan stunned investors over the weekend by replacing the hawkish central bank governor with a critic of high-interest rates.

China’s one-year Loan Prime Rate (LPR) and five-year LPR were left unchanged at 3.85% and 4.65%, respectively, on Monday.

U.S. stocks closed mostly lower Friday and booked losses for the week, with bank shares under pressure after the Federal Reserve said it would not extend temporary relief from capital-requirement rules for banks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 234.33 points, or 0.71%, to 32,627.97, the S&P 500 lost 2.36 points, or 0.06%, to 3,913.10 and the Nasdaq Composite added 99.07 points, or 0.76%, to 13,215.24