Sensex Falls Over 600 Points, Nifty Trades Below 17,000 On Weak Global Cues

The Indian equity benchmarks fell sharply lower on Monday mirrorring losses in global equity markets after US Federal Reserve on Friday hinted at aggressive rate hikes going ahead to control inflation which is at highest level in nearly 4 decades in US. The Sensex fell as much as 785 points and Nifty 5 index dropped below its important psychological level of 17,000. Most of the Asian markets were trading lower following weak closing of US markets on Friday. Japan's Nikkei fell 1.9 per cent, Taiwan Weighted up 2.5 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.6 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI declined 1.6 per cent.

As of 9:33 am, the Sensex was down 565 points at 56,631 and Nifty 50 index declined 196 points to 16,976.

Stocks tumbled on Wall Street Friday, leaving the S&P 500 with its biggest one-day loss in almost seven weeks, as worries deepen about a surge in interest rates and the U.S. central bank’s efforts to fight inflation.

Several disappointing profit reports from companies also shook what’s been the market’s main pillar of support.

The S&P 500 sank 2.8 per cent and marked its third losing week in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 2.8 per cent, its biggest drop in 18 months, after briefly skidding more than 1,000 points. The Nasdaq also had its worst day in nearly seven weeks, closing 2.6 per cent lower.

Back home, selling pressure was broad-based as twelve of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Realty index's nearly 3 per cent gain. Nifty Metal, Media, Healthcare, Pharma, Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas and FMCG indices also fell between 1.7-2.7 per cent.

On the flipside, Nifty Bank and Private Bank indices were trading higher owing to surge in ICICI Bank share price.

Bharat Petroleum was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 5 per cent to Rs 374. Coal India, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, JSW Steel, Britannia Industries, Hindalco, SBI LIfe, Apollo Hospitals, Wipro, Tata Consumer Products and Divi's Labs also fell between 2.2-2.7 per cent.

On the flipside, ICICI Bank jumped nearly 2 per cent to Rs 761 after its net profit in March quarter jumped 59 per cent to Rs 7,018.71 crore compared with Rs 4,402 crore during the same period last year. Sharp rise in profit came on the back of lower provisioning as its provisions for contingencies fell 63 per cent to Rs 1,069 crore versus Rs 2,883 crore in the year ago period, the country's second largest private lender said in an exchange filing.

ICICI Bank's net interest income or the difference between interest earned on loans and expended on deposits rose 21 per cent to Rs 12,604.56 crore versus Rs 10,431.13 crore in the last financial year.

Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank, Eicher Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Hero MotoCorp were also among the notable gainers in the Nifty 50 basket of shares.

The overall market breadth was negative as 2,281 shares were declining while 988 were advancing on the BSE.