Sensex Falls Over 550 Points Amid Weak Global Cues, Nifty Trades Below 16,950

Indian equity benchmarks on Monday traded lower in opening deals amid weak global cues. Investors turned cautious as concerns about slowing economic growth in China, the world’s top oil importer, outweighed fears of potential supply disruptions from a looming European Union (EU) ban on Russian crude.

Asian stocks mostly declined as Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.53 per cent and South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.49 per cent.

Trends on the Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange (SGX Nifty) indicated a gap-down start for the domestic indices.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 577 points or 1.01 per cent to 56,484 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 177 points or 1.04 per cent down to trade at 16,925.

Mid- and small-cap shares were negative as Nifty Midcap 100 fell 0.45 per cent and small-cap slumped 0.69 per cent.

14 out of the 15 sector gauges — compiled by the National Stock Exchange — were trading in the red. Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty IT were underperforming the index by falling as much as 1.43 per cent and 1.08 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Titan was the top loser as the stock cracked 2.53 per cent to ₹ 2,395.95. Bajaj Auto, Asian Paints, Eicher Motors and Sun Pharma were also among the losers.

The overall market breadth stood weak as 919 shares were advancing while 1,825 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, Titan, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, L&T, Tech Mahindra and ICICI Bank were among the top laggards.

In contrast, IndusInd Bank, NTPC and Axis Bank were trading in the green.

Sensex had plunged 460.19 points or 0.80 per cent to close at 57,061 on Friday, while Nifty had moved 142.50 points or 0.83 per cent lower to close at 17,103.