Sensex Opens 300 Pts In Red As Heavyweights Suffer Losses

Equity benchmark Sensex tumbled over 300 points in early trade on Monday, tracking losses in index majors Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank amid a weak trend in global markets.

The 30-share BSE index traded 305.33 points or 0.61 per cent lower at 49,552.91, and the broader NSE Nifty fell 76 points or 0.52 per cent to 14,668 in the opening hours.

PowerGrid was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding around 2 per cent, followed by Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and IndusInd Bank. Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s, Asian Paints and Infosys were among the gainers.

Sensex ended 641.72 points or 1.30 per cent higher at 49,858.24, and Nifty surged 186.15 points or 1.28 per cent to finish at 14,744 at the close last Friday. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market on Friday with net purchase of Rs 1,418.43 crore.

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, sees the market in an excessively volatile zone. Support comes from sustained FII buying which has crossed Rs 7,000 crore during the last four trading days.

Businesses are also being hit by the second wave of corona virus infection. Fresh cases of infection reached 46,951 in the last 24 hours, making the sharpest single-day jump since November 7, and driving India’s tally to 1,16,46,081. The country suffered a loss of 1,59,97 lives in the last one year.

“A major dampener for the market is the fast-rising Covid-19 cases, especially in some economically significant cities. Restricted economic activity in these regions might impact the optimistic growth projections for FY 22,” says Vijayakumar.

Exchanges in Shanghai and Seoul were trading on a positive note in mid-session deals, while Hong Kong and Tokyo were in the red. Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.50 per cent lower at $64.21 per barrel.