Mirroring the benchmark indices on Monday, the sectoral indices too were battered, plunging as much as 9%. BSE consumer durable (CD) was hit the most, losing 390.24 points or 9.69% to close at 3,638.56 points followed by BSE Bankex which lost 753.93 points or 9.06% to end the day at 7,569.16 points. The BSE Metal and BSE Realty succumbed to the selling pressure which lost 7.86% and 7.54% to close at 13,725.52 points and 7,106.53 points, respectively.
Sudhansu Pandey, techinical analyst, LKP securities said, ?It was a market wide sell-off on Monday and all the sectors were severely impacted. From the technical point of view, we had a bull run in the last few years, which was even enjoyed by the broader markets and what we are seeing now is profit booking which is sentiments driven rather than fundamental driven. Many of the institutional investors are forced to liquidate their position in these stocks irrespective of the merit of the stock.?
The BSE Bankex continued to feel the heat after a debt waiver of Rs 60,000 crore was announced to the farmers in the budget and uncertainty of reimbursing to the banks gripped the investors. ?Also many of the banks are believed to have taken speculative practices instead of hedging practice and amid uncertainty in the world?s banking system, they have posted some losses against their Forex market exposure, prompting investors to book profit in these stocks,? Pandey added.
Among the other sectoral indices oil & gas, PSU, power and capital goods lost around 5% each, however, the stocks in the health care (HC), IT and tech were less hit as these indices fell by around 3% each.
Due to weak participation in the broader markets, the overall markets breadth at the BSE was extremely bleak with around 282 stocks advancing as against 2,404 stocks, which declined and stocks of 30 companies remained unchanged. Among A and B group stocks at the BSE, 437 stocks hit their lower circuit while only 32 stocks managed to hit their upper circuit.
The selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued unabated on Monday as provisional data released by the stock exchanges (SEs) indicated that they were net sellers to the tune of Rs 658 crore while domestic institutional investors were net buyers at 212 crore.