Sensex erases opening gains

On Wednesday, Sensex closed down by 1.01 per cent, which is 310.21 points to be at 30,379.81 levels. Nifty also fell by 0.76 per cent which is 68.55 points to 8,925.30 levels. The morning session had witnessed Sensex rising over 700 points along with Nifty, gaining by more than 200 points as global peers were positive.

However, the tables turned during the second half of the day. International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted that the world this year would suffer its steepest downturn since the Great Depression of 1930s. The warning highlighted the economic damage that is already done or is even yet to be calculated in economies which have not yet fully resumed business operations. This sparked a fresh wave of fears among investors causing global indices to dip down. Shanghai closed down by 0.57 per cent, Nikkei fell by 0.45 per cent, Hang Seng fell by 1.19 per cent and Singapore’s Straits Times Index closed down by 1.10 per cent.

Sensex top gainers are HUL-up by 6.07 per cent, followed by HCL Tech, which was up by 4.44 per cent. Others included in the list are ITC, Nestle, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, L&T, NTPC, Tata Steel with their stocks rising by 4.29 per cent, 4.27 per cent, 3.36 per cent, 2.33 per cent, 1.64 per cent, 1.41 per cent and 0.94 per cent, respectively.

Sensex draggers consisted mainly of auto and banking stocks such as Axis Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto, M&M and Maruti dropping by 0.55 per cent, 0.68 per cent, 1.07 per cent, 2.10 per cent, 2.69 per cent and 3.55 per cent, respectively. Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Finance each fell by 4.83 per cent and 4.63 per cent, respectively.

Among sectoral indices, Bankex went down by 2.49 per cent. FMCG index gained by 4.33 per cent as partial operations for essential items continued at the manufacturing plants along with an increase in sales and announcement of relief in lockdown restrictions. Small-cap and Mid-cap indices closed up by 1.17 per cent and 1.32 per cent, respectively.