Sensex Tumbles By 585 Points

The BSE Sensex closed on March 18 crashing by 585 points led by decline reported across the IT stocks, RIL stocka and the PSU stocks. BSE closed at 49,216.52, while the Nifty-50 fell 163 points to close at 14,557.85. 

A total of 21 out of 30 Sensex stocks ended the day in the red led by Infosys, RIL, TCS, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank among others. All BSE sectoral indices except FMCG and telecom ended the day in the red. ITC gained by 4 per cent while Bajaj Auto saw a 2.5 percent gain. Airtel stocks also gained by almost one and half percentage points.

Why Markets Tumbled? 

Analysts said the rise in bond yields and spike in crude prices are among the major concerns for the market in the near future that may continue to negatively impact the Indian stock market. The foreign inflows were equally impacted with the rising concerns, the experts said. 

"The 10-year government bond yields are now at 6.2 per cent which has increased the fear of an impending increase in loan rates, possible increase in inflation figures and the fear of a reduction in savings rate is also spooking the markets. Rise in Coronavirus infections and an impending lockdown woes are also adding as mood dampner," said a senior market analyst.

In the domestic trading on Thursday, shares of Reliance, Infosys, HCL Tech saw significant decline thereby wiping out all initial gains seen in the morning trade. Reliance slipped over two per cent in the intraday session, while HCL Tech and Infosys lost four per cent each thereby contributing to the overall negative performance at the stock market. 

Overall, the IT sector fell by over three per cent and was the worst hit among all other sectors in the market. The country’s rising covid cases are also creating an impact as participants fear an economic slowdown in the near future. India recorded 35,871 fresh cases on Wednesday, March 17, highest since December 2020. 

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices also plunged over a per cent each following the overall negative performance in the market. The Midcap was dragged mainly by shares of Info Edge and Bank of India as they dipped over five per cent each.  

SGX Nifty -The Singaporean exchange also turned negative in-line with the Indian equities and was trading down over a per cent.  

The IPO market continued to be in greater demand as almost all issues received higher bids against their offer size. Nazara Technologies was subscribed 8.58 times on its second day of bidding.