Markets closed with steep losses; Sensex fell 0.54% & Nifty defends 16,400 mark

Benchmark indices ended with steep losses on Friday, August 20, 2021, amid broader selling pressure. The S&P BSE Sensex declined 300.17 points or 0.54 per cent at 55,329.32. The Nifty 50 index declined 118.35 points or 0.71 per cent at 16,450.50. The Nifty Bank index declined 520.65 points or 1.46 per cent to close low at 35,033.85.

In the broader market at BSE were hit harder by the sell-off. The S&P BSE MidCap declined 1.91 per cent and S&P BSE SmallCap closed 1.83 points down.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 752 shares rose and 2447 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index on the NSE, 8 shares rose and 42 shares fell. The top five gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever (up 4.86 per cent), Britannia (up 4.14 per cent), Asian Paints (up 3.55 per cent), Nestle India (up 3.11 per cent) and Bajaj Finance (up 1.42 per cent). The top five losers were Tata Steel (down 8.85 per cent), JSW Steel (down 7.19 per cent), Hindalco (down 5.84 per cent), UPL (down 5.02 per cent) and Tata Motors (down 4.01 per cent).

The shares of the multi-channel auto platform CarTrade Tech debuted the bourses today at Rs 1,599.80 per share at NSE against the issue price for the IPO was Rs 1,618 per share. It closed at a discount of 6.80 per cent from the listing price at 1,491.

Economy

Crisil on Wednesday upgraded India Inc's credit quality outlook for FY22 from cautiously optimistic to positive, based on continued improvement in demand. This comes after the setbacks caused by the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic in Q1FY22. Increasing vaccination coverage should also reduce the impact of the third wave if it comes, Crisil said in a statement.

The Crisil Ratings Chief Rating Officer said the outlook revision factor in strong economic growth, both domestic and global, and containment measures that are localised and less stringent compared with the first wave.

In Europe, Germany's finance minister said on Friday that the economy is on track for a lasting and strong recovery in the third quarter. There will be new growth figures for Germany out next week. British retail sales dropped in July 2021 by 2.5 per cent from the previous month, according to the Office for National Statistics.

In the US, the number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell last week for a fourth straight time to a pandemic low. The Labour Department reported on Thursday that jobless claims fell by 29,000 to 348,000.