Markets end lower for 2nd day in row; Sensex falls 456 pts & Nifty ends at 18,267

Domestic equity benchmarks ended with significant cuts after a volatile session on Wednesday, October 20, 2021. The indices fell amid broad-based selling in the market, which was dragged mostly by FMCG, metal and realty stocks. Sensex closed below 61,300 while Nifty slipped below 18,300 level.

The S&P BSE Sensex dropped 456.09 points or 0.74 per cent to end at 61,259.96. The Nifty 50 index lost 152.15 points or 0.83 per cent to settle at 18,266.60. The Nifty Bank also fell 22.30 points or 0.06 per cent to 39,718.20.

In the broader markets, the S&P BSE MidCap index plunged 1.91 per cent to 25,914.53 while the S&P BSE SmallCap index fell 2.31 per cent to 28,878.73

Sellers outnumbered buyers as the overall breadth of the market was negative. On the BSE, 1004 shares rose and 2297 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index at the NSE, 11 shares advanced and 39 shares declined. The top five gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel (up 3.96 per cent), State Bank of India (up 2.66 per cent), Tata Motors (up 1.62 per cent), IndusInd Bank (up 0.76 per cent) and Adani Ports (up 0.60.). The top five losers were Hindalco (down 3.94 per cent), BPCL (down 2.66 per cent), Titan (down 2.61 per cent), Bajaj Finserv (down 2.34 per cent) and Hindustan Unilever (down 2.30 per cent).

COVID-19

Total Covid-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 241,553,899 with 4,912,909 deaths. India reported 178,098 active cases of Covid-19 infection and 452,651 deaths, data showed.

Economy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with Chief Executive Officers and Experts of the Global Oil and Gas Sector at 6 PM today through video conferencing. Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri will be present on the occasion. This is the sixth such annual interaction which began in 2016 and marks the participation of global leaders in the oil and gas sector, who deliberate upon key issues of the sector and explore potential areas of collaboration and investment with India.

The broad theme of today's interaction is the promotion of clean growth and sustainability. The interaction will focus on areas like encouraging exploration and production in the hydrocarbon sector in India, energy independence and a gas-based economy.

China on Wednesday kept the one-year loan prime rate (LPR) unchanged at 3.85 per cent while the five-year LPR was also held steady at 4.65 per cent.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday downgraded its 2021 economic growth forecast for Asia after the highly infectious COVID-19 delta variant caused a spike in cases in parts of the region. The IMF said it expects Asia's economy to grow by 6.5 per cent in 2021, compared with its April forecast for a 7.6 per cent expansion. The region's growth will be led by China and India, the fund added.

The IMF expects China to grow 8 per cent this year and India by 9.5 per cent in the fiscal year that ends next March. China's total debt as a percentage of GDP fell for a fourth consecutive quarter.