Sensex Cracks 700 Points, Nifty Below 26,000

Benchmark Indian equity indices BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 were trading lower after opening in the red on Monday.

At 10 AM, the BSE Sensex was at 84,850, down 721 points, or 0.84 per cent, while the Nifty 50 was at 25,985, down 193 points, or 0.74 per cent.

More than half the stocks were red on the BSE Sensex around opening bell. Gains were led by NTPC, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Titan, and Bajaj Finance, while Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, and TCS, were the top drags.

On the Nifty 50, 28 out of the 50 stocks were in the red. Losses were led by Hero MotoCorp, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank, and Mahindra & Mahindra, while BPCL, NTPC, Hindalco, JSW Steel, and Tata Steel were the top laggards.

Across sectors, the Nifty Metal was the top gainer (up 1.41 per cent) followed by Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas.

In contrast, the Nifty Realty was the top drag (down 1.12 per cent), followed by IT and Auto, which were down 0.95 per cent and 0.80 per cent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the broader markets were red, with the BSE SmallCap down 0.46 per cent and the BSE MidCap down 0.43 per cent.

Global Cues

Asia share markets were mostly firmer on Monday as China announced more stimulus measures, though the Nikkei dived on concerns Japan’s new prime minister favoured normalising interest rates.

Continued Israeli strikes across Lebanon added geopolitical uncertainty to the mix, though oil prices were still weighed down by the risk of increased supply.

The week is packed with major US economic data including a payrolls report that could decide whether the Federal Reserve delivers another outsized rate cut in November.

The Nikkei led the early action with a dive of 4.0 per cent as investors anxiously waited for more direction from new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who has been critical of the Bank of Japan’s easy policies in the past.

However, he sounded more conciliatory over the weekend saying monetary policy “must remain accommodative” given the state of the economy.

That helped the dollar bounce 0.5 per cent to 142.85 yen, after sliding 1.8 per cent on Friday from a 146.49 top.

Over in China, the central bank said it would tell banks to lower mortgage rates for existing home loans by the end of October, likely by 50 basis points on average.

That follows a barrage of monetary, fiscal and liquidity support measures announced last week in Beijing’s biggest stimulus package since the pandemic.

In the previous week, the blue-chip CSI300 and Shanghai Composite indices gained roughly 16 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 13 per cent.

On Monday, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan firmed 0.2 per cent, having surged 6.1 per cent last

week to a seven-month high.

Wall Street also had a rousing week helped by a benign reading on core US inflation on Friday that left the door open to another half-point rate cut from the Fed.

Futures imply around a 53 per cent chance the Fed will ease by 50 basis points on November 7, though the presidential election two days earlier remains a major unknown.

A host of Fed speakers will have their say this week, led by Chair Jerome Powell later on Monday. Also due are data on job openings and private hiring, along with ISM surveys on manufacturing and services.

S&P 500 futures were up 0.1 per cent on Monday, while Nasdaq futures added 0.2 per cent. The S&P 500 index is up 20 per cent year-to-date and on track for its strongest January-September performance since 1997.