Subdued Q4 report card drags indices lower
Sensex, Nifty tumble over inflation angst; Rising prices of crude oil and other commodities due to disruption in global supply chain in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war further dampen investor sentiment; Investors expecting rate hike by RBI to contain price rise
image for illustrative purpose
Mumbai: After a long weekend (stock markets were closed on Thursday for Mahavir Jayanti and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti, as well as on Friday on account of Good Friday), the domestic stock markets on Monday witnessed heavy selling pressure with key indices tanked about two per cent. BSE Sensex tumbled 1,172.19 points, dragged down by heavyweights Infosys and HDFC twins amid a weak trend in Asian markets. NSE Nifty crashed below the 17,200-level, hammered by robust selling in market heavyweights Infosys and HDFC Bank following their below-estimate results. A weakening rupee and lacklustre macroeconomic data added to the woes, traders said.
The BSE Sensex tumbled 1,172.19 points or 2.01 per cent to settle at 57,166.74 -- marking its fourth straight session of loss. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty plunged 302 points or 1.73 per cent to 17,173.65.
Infosys was the top loser in the Sensex pack, plummeting 7.27 per cent, after the country's second-largest software services company posted a 12 per cent rise in its March quarter net profit, missing market estimates. "After a long weekend, we witnessed huge fall of two per cent in the benchmark index. The fall was mainly on account of below estimate results of Infosys and HDFC Bank and the rising tension between Russia and Ukraine. We expect further fall in markets in coming days considering the recent rise of Covid cases in India and rising inflation concerns across the globe," said Rahul Sharma, research (head), Equity 99.
"Unfavourable start to earnings season in heavyweight stocks of IT and banking sector led to heavy sell-off. Lower-than-expected results prompted the market to worry about the headwinds faced by IT sector like attrition, wage inflation, lower utilization, and cut in IT spending by industries due to geopolitical and macro issues. The degree of downfall is high because the sector was trading at high valuation and risk of a downgrade in outlook has increased," said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth a net Rs 2,061.04 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
The BSE smallcap gauge fell 1.01 per cent, while the midcap index lost 0.95 per cent. As many as 2,062 stocks declined, while 1,462 advanced and 146 remained unchanged. Among BSE sectoral indices, IT declined the most by 4.76 per cent, followed by teck (4.60 per cent), finance (2.12 per cent) and telecom (1.77 per cent).
