Sensex Falls Over 700 Points, Nifty Near 9.900 As Banks Drag

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes extended losses in afternoon trading as banking, financial services, IT, metal and pharma shares came under selling pressure. The benchmarks opened lower tracking losses in global markets after the US Federal Reserve indicated that the US economy to shrink 6.5 per cent in 2020 and the unemployment rate to be 9.3 per cent at year's end as the globe battles COVID-19 pandemic. The Sensex fell as much as 722 points and the Nifty 50 index dropped below 9,950 mark.

As of 2:54 pm, the Sensex was down 637 points or 1.92 per cent at 33,590 and Nifty fell 196 points or 1.93 per cent to 9,920.

In the first economic projections of the pandemic era, US central bank policymakers put into numbers what has been an emerging narrative: that the shutdowns, restrictions and other measures used to battle a health crisis will echo through the economy for years to come rather than be quickly reversed as commerce reopens.

Some 20 million or more people have been thrown out of work since February, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged it could take years for them to all reacquire jobs - an economic blow that is falling heaviest on minority communities at a time when mass protests over police brutality have thrown a new spotlight on racial inequality in the United States.

Back home, all the 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE were trading lower led by the S&P BSE Bankex index's over 1.5 per cent fall. Consumer durables, metal, IT, Finance and Telecom indexes also fell over a per cent each.

Mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a muted note as both the indexes were largely trading on a flat note.

Bharti Infratel, Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, Zee Entertainment, GAIL India, Hindalco, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank were among the losers.

On the flipside, IndusInd Bank was top Nifty gainer, the stock has rallied 32 per cent in the last five trading sessions. Hero MotoCorp, Nestle India, Indian Oil, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Auto, Hindustan Unilever, Power Grid and Grasim Industries were also among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,158 shares were advancing while 1,157 were declining on the BSE.