Sensex falls 124 points, Nifty ends below 15,850; PSU banks, auto stocks drag

In a volatile session, benchmark equity indices remained range-bound the gains in metal, pharma and IT stocks were capped by selling pressure in realty, auto, financial and FMCG stocks. Sensex ended 123.53 points or 0.23% lower at 52,852, while the Nifty settled at 15,824, down 31.6 points or 0.20%.

“Indian market swung between gains and losses in today’s volatile trade reflecting weak global peers as investors await a slew of quarterly earnings. Chinese education, property, and tech sectors fell sharply after tighter government regulations. Globally, markets are awaiting the upcoming Fed meeting this week to have clarity regarding the timing of asset purchase tapering,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Gainers & losers

Top gainers & losers on the Sensex.

Sectoral strand

Sectoral indices ended mixed. Nifty Metal index rose 0.63% while Nifty Pharma and Nifty IT indices were up about 0.37% and 0.15% respectively. On the downside, Nifty Realty lost the most down 0.96% followed by the Nifty Auto index slipping 0.62%. Whereas Nifty Bank and Nifty FMCG indices lost around 0.25%.

Broader market

Despite pressure in the frontline indices broader markets ended in positive terrain. BSE MidCap index closed with a positive bias of 0.06% to 23,033. On the other hand, the BSE SmallCap index settled at 26,514 up 0.34%.

Market breadth remained positive as 1,837 shares advanced on the BSE, while 1,513 declined and 159 remained unchanged.

Global markets

European markets skid across the board on Monday, 26 July 2021, tracking lacklustre global sentiment as investors monitored corporate earnings and looked ahead to a key meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Investors continue to monitor a surge in Covid-19 cases across the continent driven by the highly-transmissible delta variant, which has led several countries to re-impose social restrictions.

Most Asian stocks declined on Monday, as Chinese tech stocks in Hong Kong plunged. China’s antitrust regulator ordered Tencent to give up its exclusive music licensing rights and slapped a fine on it for anti-competitive behavior, marking yet another development in Beijing’s ongoing crackdown on its domestic internet titans.

Investors likely continued to monitor the Covid-19 situation in Asia as it weighs on sentiment. In South Korea, the second highest level of virus restrictions will be reportedly applied to non-capital areas starting Tuesday. Indonesia on Sunday also reportedly extended its Covid-19 restrictions by a week.