Mumbai, June 24 : Decline in European markets and a record surge in coronavirus cases in the country led the Financial stocks lower on Wednesday with Sensex dropping 561.45 points at 34,868.98 and Nifty shedding 165.70 points to close at 10,305.30 points.
Although the Markets opened positive they ended negative keeping in tune with the negative global markets. Coronavirus cases worldwide, particularly in America, had an effect on the global markets. Even domestic markets displayed nervousness among investors due to rise in Covid-19 cases.
Altogether 24 out of the 30 Sensex stocks closed lower even as Financials contributed most to the decline in Sensex.
The highest was ICICI Bank which dropped 7.35 per cent amidst media reports that it was considering raising $3 billion in a share sale to support its Capital ratios.
HDFC came down 2.25 per cent while Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank shed 3.24 per cent, 4.30 per cent and 0.80 per cent respectively.
However, Bank of Baroda rose 2.28 per cent as it reported a net profit of Rs 506.6 crore in the quarter ending March.
Among the top performers was Asian Paints with 3.82 per cent gain, as market experts focussed on the gross margin expansion in the quarter ending March.
GAIL (India) rose 2.12 per cent as the gas distributor posted 215.92 YoY growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 4813.88 crore for quarter ending March.
India Cements dropped 3.61 per cent as the company posted a standalone net loss of Rs 111.07 crore for quarter ending March, compared with net profit of Rs 43.85 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
Broader market dropped with BSE mid and Smallcap indices shedding 1.08 per cent and 1.24 per cent respectively. BSE 500 index dropped 1.45 %.
All sectoral indices, except BSE FMCG index closed lower. BSE Bankex was the biggest loser as it came down 4.08 per cent followed by BSE Telecom with a 3.12 per cent decline while BSE FMCG rose 0.28 per cent.
During the month, foreign institutional investors have poured in a net amount of $2.6 billion or Rs 20,556 crores in Indian shares while their domestic counterparts have pulled out Rs 631.21 crores from the asset class during the same period.
European Markets on Wednesday fell from a two-week high as investors became cautious following increases in Coronavirus cases the world over.
In India, with a record 15,968 increase in Coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the total count in the country has risen to 4,56,183 even as death toll has gone up to 14,476. Altogether 465 lives have been lost in the last 24 hours.
Mr. Abhishek Karande, CMT – Senior Analyst, Reliance Securities said “Nifty Index traded higher in the first half of the day posting highs at 10553 which lies in the proximity of 61.8% Fib Retracement and later edge lower engulfing yesterday’s again. Today’s move was imminent and the part of ending diagonal.”
He added that, “Index could witness minor pullback on a temporary note, but negative sentiment on the charts are expected to remain intact as long as 10550-10575 remains intact. Intermediate support is placed at 10250 break of which will trigger further weakness and open the way for the 10k mark.”
