Equity indices pare gains to end in red, banking, finance stocks fall

The Indian stock market reversed all its gains to end in a flat-to-negative note on Monday.

The BSE Sensex, which surged over 650 points earlier in the day to touch an intra-day high of 32,301.58, closed at 31,561.22, lower by 81.48 points or 0.26 per cent from the previous close of 31,642.70. It had opened at 32,030.34 and touched an intra-day low of 31,500.87 points.

The Nifty50 too paired its gains to settle at 9,239.20, lower by 12.30 points or 0.13 per cent from its previous close.

Heavy selling was witnessed in banking and finance stocks. The S&P BSE Banking index closed 2.31 per cent lower and the BSE Finance index fell 1.74 per cent.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said: “In yet another day characterised by fluctuations, Nifty ended flat after gaining by almost 160 points. The negative impact was mainly due to financials, led by ICICI Bank, which missed earnings estimates.” He said that globally, with countries talking about emerging from lockdown measures, there were also warnings of resurgence in infections from others. This has added to the uncertainty in the markets, with number of infections in India continuing to rise, Nair added.

Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, noted that markets opened in green following positive global cues as more and more countries are opening up their economies while positive attempts are being made towards the US- China trade talks.

“However, concerns of higher slippages in the banking sector dragged the market in second half. Speedy rise in the coronavirus cases in the country is also a concern in the market,” he said.

Among the Sensex stocks, Hero MotoCorp was the topmost gainer, rising by 6.29 per cent, followed by Bajaj Auto (up 6.17 per cent) and Maruti Suzuki India (up 5.89 per cent).

The major losers were ICICI Bank (down 5.23 per cent), Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 2.43 per cent) and Hindustan Unilever (down 1.84 per cent).

Meanwhile, the rupee on Monday slipped by 20 paise to close at 75.74 against the dollar, on rising demand for US Dollar by bankers and exporters dealers at the forex market informed.

The local unit that fell by5 paise to 75.59 in opening trade,. closed negative at 75.74, tumbling down by 20 paise as compared to its previous close.

The domestic unit registered days high and low at 75.50 and 75.80 respectively.

The Rupee slipped on Monday on strong dollar against other world currencies amid volatile equity market, dealers, added.

Agencies