Sensex Slumps 416 Points As Corporate Earnings Fail To Enthuse Investors

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes fell sharply in trade on Monday, dragged by heavyweights such as Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Tata Consultancy Services after the corporate results announced by these companies failed to enthuse investor sentiment. The benchmarks retreated from record highs hit in the opening deals. The Sensex fell as much as 770 points from an all-time high of 42,273.87 and the NSE Nifty 50 index dropped 214 points from record high of 12,430.50.

The Sensex fell 416 points or 1 per cent to close at 41,529 and NSE Nifty 50 index ended at 12,224, down 128 points or 1 per cent.

"Slightly higher non-performing assets reported by Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC Bank weighed on the banking pack," AK Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital told NDTV.

Reliance Industries' under-performance on petroleum business also added to the weakness in today's session, Mr Prabhakar added. He however noted that the correction from record highs has more to do with the upcoming Union Budget as markets had run up in anticipation of reforms from the Budget.

Nine of 11 sector gauges compiled by National Stock Exchange ended lower, led by the Nifty Media index's 1.9 per cent fall.

Nifty Bank, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Auto and Nifty Pharma indexes also fell between 1 to 1.6 per cent each.

On the other hand, Nifty Realty index was the top gainer, up 0.4 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares also witnessed selling pressure as the Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.6 per cent and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 0.7 per cent.

Kotak Mahindra Bank was top loser in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock fell nearly 5 per cent to close at Rs 1,617 after its asset quality deteriorated slightly in December quarter as its gross non-performing assets as a percentage of total advances came in at 2.46 per cent versus 2.32 per cent in the previous quarter. Its gross bad loans stood at Rs 5,413.20 crore in December quarter as against Rs 5,033.55 crore in the September quarter of current financial year.

Zee Entertainment, Reliance Industries, Coal India, NTPC, Tata Consultancy Services, Adani Ports, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank and HCL Technologies were also among the laggards.

On the flip side, Power Grid, Bharti Infratel, GAIL India, ITC, Asian Paints, Dr. Reddy's Labs and BPCL were among the notable gainers.

The overall market breadth was negative, as 1,580 shares closed lower while 950 ended higher on the BSE.