Sensex drops 135 points, Nifty ends near 15,700; PSU banks drag
BSE Sensex ended 135.05 points or 0.26% lower at 52,443.71, while the broader NSE Nifty slipped 37.05 points or 0.24% to 15,709.40
Indian benchmark equity indices closed in the red on Wednesday tracking losses in banks, financials and auto stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 135.05 points or 0.26% lower at 52,443.71, while the broader NSE Nifty slipped 37.05 points or 0.24% to 15,709.40.
Kotak Bank was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding over 2%, followed by Dr Reddy’s, M&M, PowerGrid, NTPC, Nestle India and HDFC Bank.
On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank and Bajaj Finserv were among the gainers.
“Markets opened weak and we saw about of panic selling as the Chinese fiasco and crackdown made the street nervous even as smart investors sensed the emerging opportunity in a democratic set up here. Broader Markets saw interested in buying across pockets like Paper, Steel & Home Textiles. Markets however recouped most of its losses in late afternoon trade despite persistent weakness in financial stocks,” said S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities.
Gainers & losers
Top gainers & losers on the Sensex for July 28.
Sectoral strand
Most sectoral indices on the NSE closed in the red. Nifty PSU Bank, closing nearly 2% lower, was the top sectoral laggard followed by Nifty Auto, and Nifty Bank. Bucking the trend, Nifty Metal up over 1%, and Nifty IT, up 0.2%, ended the session in the green. The fear gauge India VIX spiked by 3.47% to 13.69 levels.
Broader markets
The broader market ended mixed as the BSE MidCap index closed flat at 22,880 levels, whereas the BSE SmallCap index lost 0.45% to 26,365 at the end of today’s session.
Bears had the grip on the market as 1,781 stocks declined compared to 1,420 advanced and 132 remained unchanged.
Global markets
European markets traded mixed on Wednesday morning, 28 July 2021 amid a busy day for major corporate earnings, while investors awaited a key policy announcement from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The impact of COVID-19 continues to cloud the market outlook in Europe. The U.K. on Tuesday reported its highest death toll from the virus since March despite falling cases, prompting Prime Minister Boris Johnson to urge caution.
Asian stocks were trading mostly lower on Wednesday, with stocks in Hong Kong struggling to recover from a two-day rout. U.S. stocks fell for the first time in six days on Tuesday as a rout in China induced caution and U.S. megacap technology earnings received a mixed response from investors.
Investors are awaiting the Federal Reserve’s update on its monetary policy as the central bank’s two-day meeting began. The Federal Open Market Committee will release a statement when the meeting concludes Wednesday, followed by Chairman Jerome Powell’s news conference.
Economy
According to Care Ratings, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth is likely to be 8.8% to 9% in the current financial year, driven by agriculture and industry sectors. The country’s economy had contracted by 7.3% in fiscal 2020-21. The agency said the outlook for the Indian economy on almost all counts in FY22 would look seemingly better than FY21 on account of the negative base effect.