Sensex Falls Over 300 Points, Nifty Below 17,100; Banking Shares Worst Hit

The Indian equity benchmarks were trading lower on Monday mirroring losses in other Asian markets. The Sensex fell as much as 340 points and Nifty 50 index dropped below its important psychological level of 17,100. Asian shares and oil prices both slid on Monday as coronavirus lockdown in Shanghai looked set to hit global activity, while the yen extended its stomach-churning descent as the Bank of Japan acted to keep local yields near zero. Chinese blue chips shed 0.8 per cent. Japan's Nikkei lost 0.4 per cent, but is still almost 6 per cent firmer for the month as a sinking yen promised to boost exporter earnings.

S&P 500 stock futures eased 0.3 per cent, while Nasdaq futures slipped 0.4 per cent. EUROSTOXX 50 futures and FTSE futures both held steady for the moment.

As of 9:37 am, the Sensex was down 282 points at 57,080 and Nifty 50 index declined 86 points to 17,066.

Eight of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower eldd by the Nifty Financial Services index's over 1 per cent decline. Nifty Consumer Durables, Private Bank, PSU Bank and Financial Services indexes also fell between 0.8-1 per cent each.

On the other hand, media, metal and oil & gas shares were witnessing biuying interest.

Mid- and small-cap shares were also facing selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.3 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 0.6 per cent.

HDFC was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 1.7 per cent to Rs 2,263. HDFC Bank, UPL, HDFC Life, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India, Shree Cements, Dr Reddy's Labs, Bajaj Finance, Titan and Bajaj Finserv also fell between 1-1.7 per cent.

On the flipside, Cipla, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Consumer Products, ITC, Bharti Airtel, JSW Steel, Hindalco, Indian Oil, ONGC and Hero MotoCorp were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,928 shares were declining while 1,039 shares were advancing on the BSE.