Sensex Falls Over 200 Points, Nifty Below 12,200 After IMF Trims Growth Forecasts: 10 Things To Know

Edited by Sandeep Singh (with inputs from agencies)

21 Jan 2020, 10:34 AM IST

Losses across most sectors pulled the markets lower

At 9:17 am, the Sensex traded 173.33 points - or 0.42 per cent - lower at 41,355.58, while the Nifty was down 55.55 points - or 0.45 per cent - at 12,169.00. Traders said that investors turned wary amid subdued quarterly results by key index constituents and negative cues from global markets.
Top percentage laggards on the 50-scrip Nifty benchmark index at the time were Hero MotoCorp, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Steel, Asian Paints and UPL, trading between 1.27 per cent and 1.47 per cent lower. Thirty six Nifty stocks moved lower at the time.
HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC were the top drags on the Sensex, together accounting for a loss of 85 points in the index.
On the other hand, Bharti Infratel, Yes Bank, Bharat Petroleum, Coal India and Zee Entertainment - up between 0.55 per cent and 2.39 per cent - were the top Nifty gainers.
IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath said growth in India slowed sharply owing to the stress in non-bank financial sector and weak rural income growth.
The IMF also cut its global growth forecasts by 0.1 percentage point due to sharper-than-expected slowdowns in India and other emerging markets, but also said a US-China trade deal was another sign that trade and manufacturing activity may soon bottom out. The update on global economy comes ahead of the start of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual summit.
Equities in other Asian markets took a sudden lurch lower as mounting concerns about a new strain of pneumonia in China sent a ripple of risk aversion through markets. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 1 per cent after a steady start. Hong Kong, which suffered badly during the SARS outbreak, saw its index fall 2 per cent. Japan's Nikkei lost 0.8 per cent and Shanghai blue chips fell 1.5 per cent.
The caution spread to E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 which eased 0.4 per cent, while EUROSTOXX 50 futures lost 0.3 per cent.
Analysts say earnings from more large cap companies will be watched closely after disappointing financial results from few large caps especially banks affected investor confidence. Zee Entertainment, Axis Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Bank of Baroda, JSW Steel and ICICI Bank will report their earnings for the October-December period this week.
On Monday, the S&P BSE Sensex index had ended 416.46 points - or 0.99 per cent - lower at 41,528.91 and the broader NSE Nifty benchmark settled at 12,224.55, down 127.80 points - or 1.03 per cent - from the previous close.