Closing bell: Benchmarks end with significant decline; India VIX surges over 4 per cent

The domestic equity indices ended the week with heavy losses, mirroring global cues.

The domestic equity indices ended the week with heavy losses, mirroring global cues. Banks, financials, autos, IT, and metals were among the worst-performing sectors. NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's anticipation of volatility over the short term, climbed 4.71 per cent to 21.25. Three employees of Axis Mutual Fund, including MD and CEO Chandresh Nigam, have rumoured to have made a scam of Rs 1,000 crore, putting redemption pressure on all Axis MF schemes. Viresh Joshi and Deepak Agarwal of Axis MF have been replaced as fund managers.   

BSE Sensex closed in the red, losing 866 points to end at 54,835 levels. BSE Midcap index plummeted 485 points to end the day at 23,129 levels. BSE Smallcap index also tumbled 581 points to close at 27,092 levels. The top stocks on BSE Sensex today were Tech Mahindra, Power Grid Corporation of India, ITC, State Bank of India, and NTPC. However, stocks that witnessed a fall in their prices include Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle India, and Wipro.  

Nifty 50 closed at 16,411 levels, slipping only by 271 points. Similarly, Bank Nifty ended with a beating of 641 points and closed the day at 35,232 levels. The top gaining stocks were Hero MotoCorp, Tech Mahindra, Power Grid Corporation of India, ITC, and ONGC. The stocks losing the most were Bajaj Finance, Divi’s Laboratories, Shree Cement, UPL, and Axis Bank.  

The total stocks traded today were 3,460, out of which, 839 advanced and 2,515 stocks declined. There were 106 stocks that were unchanged. The number of stocks that were locked in the upper circuit was 130 while 290 stocks hit their lower circuits today. Around 56 stocks made a new 52-week high today while 105 stocks hit a fresh 52-week low.