Indices end at 6-month lows, Sensex tanks 894 points; YES Bank down 56%


Bears continued to be in the driver’s seat on Friday as markets witnessed another bout of across-the-board sell-off due to Coronavirus fears. Further, YES Bank crisis was another major factor that dragged the markets lower.

The S&P BSE Sensex tanked 894 points or 2.32 per cent to settle the day at 37,577. During the day, the index hit a low of 37,011 levels. Bajaj Auto emerged as the biggest gainer on the index while Tata Steel (down over 6.5 per cent) was the top loser.

On NSE, the broader Nifty50 index ended at 10,989, down 279.5 points or 2.48 per cent.

On a weekly basis, Sensex dropped 1.8 per cent while Nifty lost 1.89 per cent.

Among individual stocks, YES Bank cracked as much as 85 per cent during the day after RBI suspended the bank’s board and placed it under moratorium for 30 days and capped withdrawal limit to Rs 50,000 for the one-month period. The stock eventually settled at Rs 16, down 56 per cent.

State Bank of India (SBI) closed around 6.5 per cent lower at Rs 270, after it informed that its board has given in-principle approval to consider an “investment opportunity” in YES Bank. In a late night statement on Thursday, SBI, however, said no decision had yet been taken to pick up stake in the bank.

Besides, other banking stocks, too, tumbled in the trade. The Nifty Bank index ended at 27,781, down over 1,000 points or 3.6 per cent.

Volatility index India VIX rose around 12 per cent to 25.96 levels.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index declined 343.5 points or over 2 per cent to 14,227 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap index ended at 13,330, down 261.5 points or around 2 per cent.

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Sensex tanks 395 points as Budget 2019 fails to cheer investors


Domestic indices plummeted on Friday as Modi government’s Union Budget for 2019-20 failed to cheer investors. Even though the markets opened higher with the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex zooming past the 40,000 mark to hit 40,032, the index fell over 500 points from the highs.

The S&P BSE Sensex closed 395 points, or 0.99 per cent, lower at 39,513 levels with the YES Bank, NTPC and Mahindra & Mahindra being the top laggards. The broader Nifty50 index tanked 136 points, or 1.14 levels, to end at 11,811 levels.

In the broader market, S&P BSE Mid-Cap ended 208 points, or 1.39 per cent, lower at 14,726 levels while the S&P BSE Small-Cap dipped 195 points, or 1.36 levels, to settle at 14,142 levels.

Sectorally, all the indices ended in the red except Nifty PSU bank and Nifty Bank index that gained after the finance minister announced that the government will pump in Rs 70,000 crore into public sector banks (PSBs) to strengthen them and enhance their lending capacity.

Metals, realty and auto counters were the biggest losers after the Budget proposed import duty hike for auto-parts, metals and other equipment used for manufacturing capital goods. Each index slipped over 3 per cent. PSU Bank index closed 0.18 per cent higher after gaining nearly 4 per cent intra-day on government’s proposal to recapitalize banks.

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Sensex falls 425 points, NIFTY settles at 10,944 weighed by Autos


Benchmark indices ended over 1 per cent lower on Friday, weighed by a sharp sell-off in the automobile and metal stocks.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 36,546, down 425 points or 1.15 per cent, while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,944, down 126 points or 1.14 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Auto index, the top loser of the day, settled 3.6 per cent lower as Tata Motors, MRF and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) lost considerable ground. Nifty Metal index ended 3.4 per cent lower with SAIL and Vedanta among the top losers.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended 203 points or 1.40 per cent lower at 14,328, while S&P BSE SmallCap index settled at 13,656, down 122 points or 0.89 per cent.

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Markets end down in a truncated week; Sensex down 219 and Nifty down 73


On Thursday, the benchmark indices fell for the third consecutive session, settling over 0.5 per cent lower led by fall in banking and metal stocks. The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 34,981, down 219 points or 0.6 per cent, while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,527, down 73 points or 0.7 per cent.

The BSE and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) are closed for trade on Friday, on account of Gurunanak Jayanti. All wholesale commodity markets, including metal and bullion, are also closed. The forex and commodity futures markets, too, will not trade.

It was a negative end for the market in this truncated week with the Nifty giving up 10,550-mark.

Private banks were major contributors to the Nifty Bank’s underperformance. Telecom pack, too, saw some pressure. Consumption, energy, metals, and pharma saw the most losses after banks, while selling was visible in the midcaps space.

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