Sensex closes near day’s low; Nifty IT only sectoral index to end higher led by TCS, Infosys

Domestic equity market benchmarks Sensex and Nifty fell half a per cent to close near day’s low on Monday. “Indian markets opened in green on the back of mixed signals from global Asian peers. Post morning session the markets traded in red as investor sentiment which was already weak against the backdrop of concerns overgrowth of the economy, which has also registered spike in inflation and slowdown in industrial production got further dented as Moody’s Investors Service slashed India’s growth forecast to 5.4% for 2020 from 6.6% projected earlier on slower than expected economic recovery. The markets also discounted positive comments by RBI Governor that momentum is gathering pace on credit growth and expressed hope that transmission of rate cuts will improve further in the coming days,” Narendra Solanki, AVP- Equity Research, Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers said.

Sensex, Nifty end lower for third consecutive session- S&P BSE Sensex ended half a per cent or 202 points lower at 41,055.67, while the broader Nifty 50 index settled 0.56 per cent or 68 points lower at 12,046 points. Index heavyweights such as HDFC, RIL, ITC and SBI were among major contributors towards today’s fall.

Top gainers and losers on S&P BSE Sensex- ONGC was the top loser, down over 3%, followed by Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto and NTPC. On the flip side, Titan was the top Sensex gainer with a growth of 1.83 per cent. Nestle India, Tata Steel, TCS and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the other gainers.

Except Nifty IT index, all sectoral indices end in red- Barring Nifty IT index, all the sectoral indices ended in red. The Nifty PSU Bank index dropped nearly 3% weighed by weakness in Bank of Baroda, PNB, Indian Bank and Bank of India. On the contrary, Nifty IT index closed flat to positive with TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra as top index gainers.

Broader markets underperformed frontline indices- In the broader markets, S&P BSE MidCap index ended 0.91 per cent or 143 points lower at 15,519, while the S&P SmallCap index settled at 14,532 points, down 1.02 per cent or 150 points.

Moody’s cuts India growth to 5.4%- Moody’s cut growth projection to 5.4 per cent in 2020. The global rating agency had earlier projected the economy to grow at 6.6 per cent on account of slower than expected growth recovery. The rebound may begin in the current quarter, Moody’s said in its Global Macro Outlook update. Moody’s has projected the Indian economy to grow at 5.8 per cent for 2021 down from 6.7 per cent earlier.

Coronavirus is preventable- The novel coronavirus that has killed more than 1,700 people in China is “preventable and treatable”, an official from the country’s National Health Commission said on Monday. – The death toll in mainland China reached 1,770 as of Sunday-end, up by 105 from the previous day, while there were 2,048 new cases, bringing the total count to 70,548, as per Reuters news report.