Lagatar24 Desk
Mumbai, Nov.16: Selling pressure in index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, ITC, and Axis Bank caused the Indian stock benchmarks to fall on Tuesday. As growing wholesale inflation soured investors’ sentiment, the Sensex plummeted as much as 519 points and the Nifty 50 index dipped below its critical psychological milestone of 18,000, according to analysts.
The Sensex fell 396 points to 60,322, while the Nifty 50 index fell 110 points to 17,999.
According to government data released on Monday, India’s annual wholesale price-based inflation accelerated to a five-month high of 12.54 % in October, up from 10.66 % in September, pushed up by higher increases in gasoline and manufacturing prices.
Inflation is a concern in both India and the United States, according to IDBI Capital’s Head of Research AK Prabhakar. “Many enterprises are aiming to raise prices,” he added, adding that this could have an influence on inflation and, as a result, RBI policy.
The selling pressure was widespread, as thirteen of the National Stock Exchange’s 15 sector indices ended lower, headed by the Nifty PSU Bank index, which fell more than 2%. The Nifty Private Bank, Healthcare, Pharma, Bank, FMCG, Metal, Financial Services, and Oil & Gas indices all dropped between 0.8 and 1.6%.
On the other side, auto stocks saw a surge in purchasing interest following news that a chip shortage could be resolved soon.
Mid- and small-cap stocks ended mixed, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index falling 0.4% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index rising 0.45%.
Individual stocks rose as much as 12.5 % to a record high of 1,443.60 after the Mumbai-based real estate developer Macrotech Developers informed stock exchanges after market hours on Monday that its board of directors will meet on November 18, Thursday to consider fund raising by allotting equity shares to qualified institutional buyers.
The shares of State Bank of India was the biggest loser on the Nifty, falling 2.43 % to settle at 494. UltraTech Cement, NTPC, Grasim Industries, IndusInd Bank, Bharat Petroleum, Indian Oil, Cipla, Tata Steel, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, and Britannia Industries all dropped between 1.4 and 2.3 %.
Maruti Suzuki, on the other hand, rose 7.3 % to close at 8,095. Among the gainers were Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, tech Mahindra, Eicher Motors, Wipro, Bajaj Finserv, Infosys, and JSW Steel.
On the BSE, the overall market breadth was negative, with 1,736 shares closing down and 1,596 shares closing higher.
