Sensex witnesses another volatile session; closes in red

Today’s session for domestic indices was again very volatile but the indices this time closed in red as Sensex dropped by 242.37 points or 0.76 per cent to the level of 31,443.38 while, Nifty fell by 71.85 points or 0.78 per cent to reach 9,199.05 level.

The market witnessed quite heavy sell-off with majority of the financial and consumer stocks losing. Lack of positive triggers and jump in COVID -19 cases in India has brought about a gloomy environment in markets. Additionally, the Bank of England made a statement that Britain may possibly be headed for its biggest economic slump in more than 300 years as a result of the lockdown effects because of the pandemic. However, as a relief, the data showed that Chinese exports have been far stronger than expected by the market experts as the country’s exports for April rose by 3.5 per cent YoY. Equalising the positives along with the negative sentiments, globally, the markets continued to remain weak as the global surplus of crude oil was also seen increasing with a continued downturn in its demand. Shanghai index fell by 0.23 per cent, Hang Seng and KOSPI dropped by 0.65 per cent and 0.0078 per cent whereas, Nikkei gained by 0.28 per cent. European indices such as FTSE 100, CAC 40 and DAX rose by 0.87 per cent, 0.82 per cent and 0.87 per cent, respectively.

In Sensex basket, 25 stocks advanced whereas, five stocks declined. Gainers included IndusInd Bank as it gained by 6.58 per cent, M&M increased by 3.45 per cent, RIL increased by 3.12 per cent, Axis Bank was up by 2.33 per cent and Tech Mahindra closed in green up by 1.73 per cent. Senses draggers consisted of ONGC losing by 4.54 per cent, NTPC dropped by 4.49 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank fell by 3.69 per cent, ICIC Bank dropped by 1.36 per cent, SBI closed in red, down by 0.20 per cent, Power Grid fell by 2.33 per cent and Bajaj Finance was down by 2.15 per cent. HDFC twins also formed part of the losers in today’s trading session as HDFC Bank fell by 2.26 per cent and HDFC was down by 1.68 per cent.

Majority of the sectoral indices declined with Power index being the biggest loser, dropping down by 2.47 per cent. Small-cap and Mid-cap indices fell by 0.14 per cent and 0.53 per cent, respectively.