Domestic equity benchmarks crashed; Sensex falls 1066 pts; Nifty down to 11,680

Equity benchmarks on Thursday, October 15, 2020, snapped winning rally of ten sessions amid a plunge in global share markets. The key domestic indices tumbled around two and a half per cent. The Sensex closed below 40,000 mark while the Nifty settled 11,700 level.

The S&P BSE Sensex slumped 1066.33 points or 2.61 per cent to settle at 39,728.41. The Nifty 50 index tumbled 290.70 points or 2.43 per cent to end at 11,680.35. Nifty Bank dropped 802.25 points or 3.36 per cent to settle at 23,072.40.

The broader market at BSE also declined but outperformed the Sensex. The BSE Mid-Cap index depreciated 1.75 per cent and the BSE Small-Cap index slipped 1.45 per cent.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 822 shares rose and 1818 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 block, only three shares advanced, while 47 shares dropped. The three gainers include Asian Paint (up 0.41 per cent), JSW Steel (up 0.17 per cent) and Coal India (up 0.05 per cent), while the top losers were Bajaj Finance (down 4.98 per cent), Tech Mahindra (down 4.43 per cent), ICICI Bank (down 4.07 per cent), IndusInd Bank (down 3.93 per cent) and Reliance (down 3.69 per cent).

COVID-19 Update

India reported 812,390 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 111,266 deaths while 6,383,441 patients have been discharged. Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 38,442,524 with 1,091,464 deaths.

US Economic Relief Deal

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that getting a deal done before the election would be difficult, adding that both sides were still far apart on certain issues. He also noted, however, that Democrats and Republicans are making progress in some areas.

Home Sales Numbers in Singapore

Singapore home sales rose to the highest in more than two years in September on the back of low-interest rates and government stimulus cushioning the economic fallout from the Coronavirus pandemic. Unit sales jumped 5.6 per cent to 1,329 last month, the highest since July 2018, Urban Redevelopment Authority data released on Thursday showed. The figures show Singapore's property market is weathering the city's worst recession after a two-month lockdown to combat the Coronavirus. To cushion the economic fallout, the government unleashed more than S$100 billion ($73 billion) of the stimulus.