Sensex, Nifty Plunge On Weak Global Cues; Banking, Metal Stocks Worst Hit

Indian equity benchmarks (Sensex and Nifty) fell sharply on the back of negative global cues on growing fears about economic recession in the US. The S&P BSE Sensex fell as much as 1.3 per cent or 497 points to 37,667 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index dropped 1.27 per cent or 145 points to 11,311.60. Losses were led by Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Infosys and Kotak Mahindra Bank. As of 12:57 pm, Sensex traded 417 points lower at 37,747 and NSE Nifty 50 Index declined 122 points to 11,334.

Concerns about the health of the world economy heightened last week after cautious remarks by the US Federal Reserve sent 10-year treasury yields to the lowest since early 2018.

US 10-year treasury yields were last 1.9 basis points below three-month rates after yields inverted for the first time since 2007 on Friday. Historically, an inverted yield curve - where long-term rates fall below short-term - has signalled an upcoming recession.

Back home, sixteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE were trading lower led by the S&P BSE Metal Index's 1.7 per cent decline. Basic Materials, Banking and Realty Indexes also dropped over 1 per cent each. On the flipside, S&P BSE Oil & Gas Index was top gainer, up 0.36 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing selling pressure as the S&P BSE MidCap Index fell 0.9 per cent and the S&P BSE SmallCap Index dropped 0.83 per cent.

From the Nifty 50 basket of shares, 39 were trading lower while 11 were among the gainers.

Hindalco was top loser in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock fell 2.89 per cent to Rs 203.50. JSW Steel, Vedanta, UltraTech Cement, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Steel, Indiabulls Housing Finance and Sun Pharma were also among the losers. On the other hand, Indian Oil, ONGC, Bharat Petroleum, NTPC, HPCL and Coal India were among the gainers.

(With inputs from Reuters)