Nifty slips another 88 points, Sensex ends below 61,000; banks & financial rally

After opening in the green domestic benchmark equity indices gave up all the gains and entered the negative terrain and ended lower for the third straight day amid sell-off in index heavyweights and China property woes. However, a late recovery led by select financial shares helped the indices recoup some of their losses. At close Sensex lost 336 points or 0.55% to end below the 61,000 mark at 60,923. While the Nifty 50 settled at 18,178 slipping 88 points or 0.48%. "Sell-off continued due to weak Q2 results, bearish global market and profit booking in IT, metal and realty stocks. However, the banking index, especially PSBs moved with confidence on the expectation of good quarterly earnings. High volatility forced foreign and domestic institutional investors to remain net sellers," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Top gainers & losers

[caption id="attachment_91244" align="alignnone" width="795"] Top gainers & losers on the Sensex.[/caption]

Sectoral strand

Nifty PSU Bank led the sectoral pack on the NSE with gains of 2.73% followed by Nifty Bank adding 1.30% to end above the 40,000 mark for the first time ever at 40,030 after hitting a new peak of 40,200. Even the Nifty Auto index advanced 0.56%. On the downside, Nifty IT index tanked 2.53%, while Nifty Metal index plunged 1.77% and Nifty Realty index declined 1.41%. Whereas Nifty FMCG and Nifty Pharma indices were down 0.86% and 0.05%, respectively. The volatility gauge India VIX cooled off by 1.51% to end at 18.03.

Broader markets

The broader markets mirrored the losses in benchmark indices as BSE MidCap slipped 97 points or 0.38% to end at 25,817. While the BSE SmallCap index settled at 28,680 lower by 198 points or 0.69%. Market breadth was neutral as 1,597 shares advanced while 1,687 declined and 142 remained unchanged.

Global markets

European stocks decline across the board on Thursday, 21 October 2021 as concerns about the Chinese property sector returned to the fore, while investors also monitored a slew of corporate earnings. The weak start in Europe comes after markets were jittery in Asia-Pacific overnight, as investors monitored shares of developer China Evergrande Group in Hong Kong. Asian stocks traded mixed on Thursday as investors weighed corporate earnings, elevated inflation and risks from China's property sector. Evergrande shares dropped sharply on Thursday, returning to trade on Thursday after a halt that lasted more than two weeks.