Sensex Today: Indian shares fell on Monday in broadbased selling, tracking Asian peers, as investors shunned equities on renewed worries over economic growth in the face of a high-interest rate environment.
The S&P BSE Sensex tumbled over 1,000 points intra-day to hit a low of 57,038, dragged by broad-based sell-off. The Nifty50, meanwhile, gave up 17,000-mark intra-day to hit a low of 16,978.
However, fag-end buying in IT stocks like Infosys, HCL Tech, TCS, Wipro, and Tech M lifted the frontline indices off lows. By close, the BSE Sensex was at 57,145, down 954 points, while the Nifty50 was at 17,016, down 311 points. The indices shed 1.6 per cent, and 1.8 per cent, respectively.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index fell 2.85 per cent, and the BSE Smallcap index declined 3.33 per cent. Overall, less than 700 stocks advanced on the BSE, as against nearly 3,000 stocks that fell on the exchange.
Among sectors, the Nifty IT index was the sole gainer as it gained 0.6 per cent with Coforge, Mphasis, Mindtree, LTI, and LTTS being the additionalo gainers apart from the large-cap stocks.
On the downside, the Nifty Metal, and Realty index fell 4 per cent each, Auto index 3.8 per cent, and Bank index over 2 per cent.
Neeraj Chadawar, Head – Quantitative Equity Research, Axis Securities, said: “The Indian market performance showed resilience in the last couple of months, outperforming the global market by a superior margin based on the robust economic outlook compared to other emerging markets. After a hawkish US Fed stance, we are observing weakness in the global market on an expectation of a continuation of rate hikes in the remaining two FOMC meetings of 2022. In that context, term performance was likely to be range bound due to a stronger dollar. The Indian currency has performed well, and it has been stable vis-a-vis other emerging market currencies, on account of higher foreign exchange reserve, robust growth outlook, and macroeconomic stability. However, the sharp upward movement in the dollar index has created a weakness in the domestic market.”
“Now the market is eyeing the RBI monetary policy, scheduled this week. We recommend investors avoid riskier bets this week as volatility is likely to continue in the near term. Further, the market is eyeing the upcoming earning season & the festival demand, which will likely drive the market fundamentals. We recommend investors to use this volatility in the coming days in a phased manner to build a position with a view of 12-18 months in quality companies where earnings visibility is very high. In this context, domestic-oriented themes like Banks, FMCG, Hospitals, Domestic Industrials, and Discretionary consumption are well placed over export plus cyclical-oriented themes,” Chadawar said.
Rupee Hits Record Low
The rupee weakened to a new low against the US dollar on Monday, as the dollar’s strength continued unabated amid indications of a longer tightening cycle by the Federal Reserve, dealers said. The domestic currency closed at 81.62 per US dollar today compared with Friday’s close of 80.99/$. It touched an all-time low of 81.65 per US dollar during the day.
Global Cues
Asian stocks started the final week of the quarter on the slide on Monday, while the dollar stood ascendant, as the prospect of high interest rates and poor growth shook markets.
Tokyo stocks opened lower Monday after a long weekend that saw global selloffs, with investors expected to stay “risk-off” for some time.
Wall Street’s main indexes slumped to close well down on Friday, as rattled investors continued repositioning themselves to reflect fears the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish rate policy to curb inflation will push the American economy into recession.
Oil prices rose modestly in early trade on Monday after sliding to eight-month lows last week weighed down by a surging US dollar and fears sharp interest rate hikes globally would spark a recession and hit fuel demand.
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