Bear hug for Sensex, Nifty; CG Power locks in at upper circuit, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail down by nearly 3 per cent

The month of August has begun with strong bearish sentiments prevalent in the domestic markets as Sensex slumped by 667.29 points or 1.77 per cent to close at 36,939.60 while Nifty tanked by 173.60 points or 1.57 per cent to settle at 10,899.85.

In global markets, Shanghai index, Nikkei and KOSPI rallied by 1.75 per cent, 2.24 per cent and 0.074 per cent respectively. European indices such as FTSE 100, DAX and CAC 40 were witnessed trading up by 0.48 per cent, 1.69 per cent and 0.85 per cent respectively.

Despite the positivity witnessed globally, domestic markets saw a slump with Coronavirus infection cases continuing to rise. Moreover, due to the lockdown measures, India's manufacturing slump worsened as the Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for India compiled by IHS Markit dropped to 46 in July as against 47.2 reported for June 2020.

Additionally, banking and loan company stocks took a major hit after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that the government is looking on restructuring of loans and extension of moratoriums on term loans.

Indian Rupee slipped below the 75 per dollar mark to settle at 20 paise down.

In the Sensex basket, Sensex gainers comprised Titan Company increasing by 3.15 per cent, Tata Steel gaining by 1.87 per cent, SBI rising by 0.34 per cent, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.27 per cent, etc. Sensex losers included Kotak Mahindra Bank falling by 4.41 per cent, IndusInd Bank dropping by 3.90 per cent, Axis Bank decreasing by 3.30 per cent, ONGC down by 3.13 per cent.

Amongst sectoral indices on BSE, Consumer Durables index was the biggest gainer, up by 1.07 per cent while Bankex was the biggest loser, down by 2.73 per cent. BSE small-cap index rose by 1.02 per cent whereas BSE mid-cap index declined by 0.31 per cent.