Markets’ bullish outlook on PSU stocks in the wake of the announcement of bad bank, suddenly changed as they were at the forefront of the bears’ onslaught. Metal and realty stocks were also hammered mercilessly.
The 30-share pack Sensex fell 125.27 points or 0.21 per cent to close at 59,015.89. The index gyrated 866 points before closing. Its broader peer NSE Nifty declined 44.35 points or 0.25 per cent to 17,629.50. Both indices hit intraday record highs during the day.
Equity investors were left poorer by Rs 1.70 lakh crore, as their total wealth represented by BSE market capitalisation declined to Rs 259.08 lakh crore.
“Amid the FTSE & MSCI rebalancing flows, profit-taking took away all the gains ahead of the GST Council Meet. Even as the BFSI biggies held fort today, the cut in the small and midcap indices weakened market breadth as was evident in the advance-decline ratio at the close today,” said S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP securities.
Market at a glance:
- Poonawalla Fincorp recovers from an early loss to end 2 per cent higher
- India VIX, a barometer of volatility and fear, surges 6 per cent
- Bharti Airtel rises 2 per cent TDSAT stays DoT’s Rs 1,376 cr demand
- Kotak Bank spikes 6 per cent after acquiring Volkswagen’s auto fin biz
- Railway ticketmaster IRCTC rises 3 per cent as travel outlook improves
Among the bluechip names, Kotak Mahindra Bank was the top gainer, rising 5.63 per cent. HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Eicher Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank and SBI Life Insurance were other gainers.
Tata Steel was the top loser in the Nifty pack, falling 3.76 per cent. Coal India, SBI, TCS, Hindalco, UPL, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma and HDFC Life Insurance were others that ended in the red.
Broader market indices also ended lower underperforming their headline peers. Nifty Smallcap declined 0.73 per cent and Nifty Midcap fell 1.27 per cent. Nifty 500, the broadest index on NSE, ended down 0.51 per cent.
MORE TO COME..
