Omicron: Sensex down 1,190 points, Nifty reaches 16,614
Mumbai: Indian equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty50 closed in deep red on Monday amid renewed concerns about the Omicron of COVID-19 and its impact on the global economy. At close, the Sensex was down 1,189.73 points or 2.09% at 55,822.01, and the Nifty was down 371.00 points or 2.18% at 16,614.20. About 621 shares have advanced, 2604 shares declined, and 97 shares are unchanged.
BPCL, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank and SBI were among the top Nifty losers. Gainers included Cipla, HUL and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories.
All the sectoral indices ended in the red with realty, bank, capital goods and metal indices fell 3-4 percent. BSE midcap and smallcap indices shed over 3 percent each.
The broader indices – the BSE Midcap and the Smallcap – also recovered partially but still ended with losses in excess of 3 per cent each. The breadth was extremely negative, with nearly 4 declining stocks for every advancing share on the BSE.
The Nifty Bank index tumbled to a six-month low and was down over 4 per cent in intraday trades amid a sharp correction in private sector banks as foreign investors continued pulling out funds from Indian equities. AU Small Finance Bank, Bandhan Bank, Federal Bank and RBL Bank were the major losers.
Debutant Shriram Properties had a disappointing day. The stock ended at Rs 99 – a 16 per cent discount to its issue price of Rs 118.
Primary market
Meanwhile, in the primary market, Supriya Lifescience IPO was subscribed 45.65 times as of 03:20 PM on the final day of the offer period on strong investor response. The retail quota received bids up to 50.48 times. The NIIs (wealthy investors) portion was subscribed 98.46 times, and the QIBs quota was subscribed 17.63 times.
Other Asian indices were deep in the red today. Japan’s Nikkei was down 2.19%, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.75%, Taiwan Weighted declined 0.80%, while the Hang Seng shed 1.37%. South Korea’s Kospi plunged 1.76%. On Friday, US stock indices except for the Nasdaq settled sharply lower. The Dow fell 1.48%, S&P 500 lost 1.03% and the Nasdaq settled 0.07% lower.