Sensex, Nifty Stage Biggest Fall Of 2019 Despite RBI Cutting Rates

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 Indexes staged their biggest single day fall of 2019 even as the Reserve Bank of India cut repo rate by 25 basis points to lowest in nine years and changed policy stance to "Accommodative" from "Neutral". The benchmarks fell sharply after the RBI monetary policy decision as some analysts were expecting 50 basis points rate cut. No clarity from RBI on the liquidity situation at non-banking finance companies (NBFC) also added to the weak sentiment, market participants said. The Sensex fell as much as much as 602 points to intraday low of 39,481.15 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index dropped as much as 191 points to 11,830.

The Sensex ended 554 points or 1.4 per cent lower at 39,530 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index dropped 178 points or 1.48 per cent to 11,844.

Selling pressure was broad-based in today's session with all the 11 sector gauges compiled by National Stock Exchange ending lower. Rate sensitive Bank, PSU Bank, Finance and Private Bank Indexes were among the worst hit in today's session.

Nifty PSU Bank Index dropped 4.9 per cent while Nifty Bank and Nifty Private Bank sector gauges dropped over 2 per cent each. Metal, Media, Pharma and Realty sector gauges also fell over a per cent each.

Mid- and small-cap shares also witnessed selling pressure as the Nifty Midcap 100 Index fell 1.65 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 Index declined 1.86 per cent.

GAIL India was top loser in the Nifty 50 basket of shares. The stock plunged 11.5 per cent to close at Rs 317 after international brokerage CLSA downgraded the stock to 'underperform' from 'buy'.

Indiabulls Housing Finance fell 7.73 per cent to Rs 735 after its peer Dewan Housing Finance's (DHFL) commercial paper rating was downgraded to default by CRISIL and ICRA igniting fears of contagion in the NBFC space. DHFL shares closed 16 per cent lower.

IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro, Bharat Petroleum and Tata Steel were also among the laggards.

On the flipside, Coal India, Titan, Hero MotoCorp, NTPC, Power Grid, Hindustan Unilever and Bharti Airtel were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative as 1,839 shares ended lower while 756 closed higher on the BSE.