Oil price-led inflation worries hit markets

Mumbai: Reversing its early gains, benchmark BSE Sensex plunged by 571 points or nearly one per cent at close on Monday following losses in banking, oil, FMCG and IT stocks as surging oil prices played spoilsport amid prolonged Russia-Ukraine war.

The 30-share Sensex opened higher and rose over 260 points to touch the day's high of 58,127.95. However, losses in banking, oil and FMCG stocks dragged the index down by 634 points to touch a low of 57,229.08.

The barometer settled at 57,292.49, down by 571.44 points or 0.99 per cent. The index had rallied over 2,000 points in the previous two sessions. The broader NSE Nifty declined by 169.45 points or 0.98 per cent to finish at 17,117.60 after rallying over 620 points in the past two sessions. It touched a high of 17,353.35 points and a low of 17,096.40 in the day trade.

"With no significant improvement in the tensions between Russia and Ukraine and uncertainty in the Gulf region, crude prices surged leading to a sell-off in the domestic market after the recent rally. FII's coming back to buying mode is a positive for domestic equities, but a rise in bulk diesel prices and inflationary pressure are bending the domestic market," said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

Ajit Mishra, V-P (research), Religare Broking Ltd, adds: "Markets started the week on a muted note and lost nearly a per cent, tracking mixed global cues."

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers as they bought shares worth Rs 2,800.14 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.Among Sensex constituents, Power Grid fell the most by 2.93 per cent, followed by Asian Paints (2.85 per cent), UltraTech Cement (2.81 per cent), Nestle (2.49 per cent), Kotak Bank (2.42 per cent) Hindustan Unilever (2.41 per cent) and HCL Technologies (2.32 per cent). Index heavyweight Reliance Industries dropped by 0.5 per cent, HDFC by 1 per cent and ICICI Bank by 1.3 per cent. In contrast, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, Maruti, Titan and NTPC were the only gainers.

The broader market depicted a mixed trend with the BSE midcap declining 0.68 per cent.