Sensex falls 465 points; Nifty PSU Bank up 3%

MUMBAI: An across-the-board sell-off enveloped markets in the last hour of trade as an unwavering rise in COVID-19 cases and slower-than-expected pace of vaccination worried investors on Dalal Street. Besides, confidence in the markets took a hit after media reports suggested that banks have approached the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to grant a 3-month moratorium period courtesy slowdown in economic activity.

After starting gap-up and staying range-bound for better part of the day, the 30-share Sensex index succumbed to bear hammering and dropped approximately 850 points from day's high to touch a low of 48,149. The index then mildly recovered to settle the day at 48,253.5 levels, down 465 points or 0.95 per cent.

On the NSE, the Nifty50 gave up the psychological level of 14,500 and closed at 14,496.5-mark, down 138 points or 0.94 per cent. Earlier in the day, it hit a low of 14,461.

Nearly 35 of the 50 constituents on the index ended the day in the red including Tata Consumer Products (down 4.3 per cent), Cipla, Reliance Industries, Dr Reddy's Labs, Hindalco Industries, Divi's Labs, and Sun Pharmaceuticals.

On the upside, SBI Life, up over 2 per cent, ended as the top Nifty gainer for the second straight day, followed by Bajaj Finance, BPCL, Adani Ports, ONGC, and Coal India.

The broader markets, although in the red, outperformed the benchmarks. The S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices each ended about half a per cent lower today. The losses stayed limited amid healthy buying in PSU Bank stocks such as Union Bank of India, Bank of India, Indian Bank, Central Bank along with NBCC, Bharat Forge, Shriram City Union Finance, Dish TV, Tata Steel BSL, and Excel Industries.

In effect, the Nifty PSU Bank index was the sole sectoral gainer on the NSE today, up 3.5 per cent. The Nifty Pharma index, on the contrary, was gripped in profit-booking and ended 2 per cent lower today. All other sectoral indices on the NSE nursed losses between 0.4 per cent and 0.8 per cent.

Economically sensitive sectors, including miners, travel and energy, drove gains in European stocks on Tuesday, with British shares outperforming after a holiday-extended weekend. (IANS)

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