Mumbai, July 14 : Financials and heavy weight Reliance Industries Ltd remained weak thereby pulling down BSE’s Sensex on Tuesday keeping in tune with weak global equities even as rise in Coronavirus cases and US-China tensions kept the investors in check.
Sensex closed 661 points lower at 36,033 while Nifty dropped 195 points to close at 10,607.
Markets were volatile and will continue to remain volatile for a couple of days, experts said adding that some cities in India which have imposed further lockdowns from Tuesday due to increasing cases of Covid-19 would cause some worry among the investors for a next few days.
Meanwhile, with no peak in sight as of now, new Coronavirus cases in India crossed the nine lakh mark and the second wave of lockdowns in some cities have already begun indicating weakness in economy would continue to remain over the next few days.
Almost 27 Sensex stocks closed lower. HDFC contributed the most to the Sensex’s losses as it dropped 2.91 per cent, while HDFC Bank dropped 1.96 per cent.
RIL dropped 0.91 per cent despite reports US tech giant Google was in talks to invest $4 billion in its unit Jio Platforms. RIL’s 43rd AGM would be held on Wednesday.
IT Major Infosys came down 1.69 per cent ahead of its June quarter earnings while TCS shed 2.16 per cent. WIPRO lowered 1.10 per cent ahead of its quarterly results later in the day.
BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices dropped 0.95 per cent and 0.93 per cent respectively.
India VIX ended higher for the third day in succession as it went up 5.73 per cent to 26.7…. the biggest single day gain for the volatility index in two months.
BSE Bankex was the top sectoral loser as it fell 3.06 per cent. BSE Power followed next with a
2.74 per cent decline. BSE Telecom rose 0.07 per cent while Healthcare closed flat.
BF Utilities went up 10 per cent as reports trickled in about ace equity investor and D-Mart promoter Radhakishan Damani acquiring 4.91 lakh shares in the company during June quarter.
YES Bank further shed 5.20 per cent ahead of its launch of its Rs 15000 crore follow on Public Offer that opens on Wednesday. The floor price of the stock was fixed at Rs 12 per share recently and the stock has shed 18.6 per cent over the last one week.
Vodafone Idea came down 4.30 per cent after the Telecom Tribunal on Tuesday declined to stay the sector Regulator’s July 11 order blocking the telecom major’s RedX premium plan, denying relief on this count to the company.
Biocon rose 5.51 per cent after the company said on Monday it would launch biologic drug
Itolizumab for the treatment of Covid-19 at a price of around Rs 8000 per vial.
The rising Sino-US tensions caused nervousness among the investors. USA on Monday rejected China’s disputed claims to offshore resources in most of the South China Sea, a move China dubbed as inciting in the region and highlighted an increasingly testy relationship.
Experts said that markets would remain volatile over the next few days as investors would remain cautious over Covid-19 rising cases, Sino-US tensions and direction of Global markets.
