Sensex Dives Over 1,000 Points, Nifty Slips Below 14,300 Amid Covid Spike

The domestic stock markets have crashed by more than 2 per cent in early trading, ignoring the positive cues from the global bourses, as the second wave of Covid 19 continued to batter the country.  At 9:20 am, the Sensex was trading at 47,778.75, weaker by 1053.55 points or 2.16 per cent and the NSE Nifty was at 14,285.50, down 332.45 points or 2.16 per cent. Financial and auto stocks received most of the hammering, with the BSE financial and auto indices losing 4.7 per cent and 3.6 per cent respectively.

The broader markets were also under intense selling pressure, with the BSE Midcap index and BSE Smallcap index shedding around 2.8 per cent each. 

On Monday, India reported its tenth record daily increase in COVID-19 cases in eleven days and added more than 2 lakh daily cases to the overall tally for the fourth consecutive day.

Asian shares hovered near 1-1/2 week highs on Monday helped by expectations that monetary policy will remain accommodative the world over, while COVID-19 vaccine rollouts helped ease fears of another dangerous wave of coronavirus infections.

Australian shares were higher by 0.25, while New Zealand's benchmark index and South Korea's KOSPI added 0.4 per cent each. Japan's Nikkei eased 0.4 per cent.

The three main Wall Street indexes ended higher for the day and week, with the S&P 500 and the Dow breaking closing records, as investors took strong economic data and bank earnings as signs of momentum in the U.S. pandemic recovery.

The Dow Jones rose 0.48 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 0.36 per cent and Nasdaq Composite added 0.1 per cent.

Financial and auto stocks are leading the carnage on Dalal Street this morning. ICICI Bank has nosedived more than 4 per cent at Rs 539.90 to top the loser's list on the BSE. Among other financial names, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC and SBI lost around 4 per cent each on the BSE. In the auto space, Tata Motors and Hero MotoCorp have also shed around 4 per cent each.

Wipro was the sole gainer in the BSE Sensex pack; the stock added 1.4 per cent to Rs 475.95 on the BSE.

The BSE market breadth was weak. Out of 2,234 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1,774 declining stocks as against 368 advances.