Equity markets turned sharply lower in the fag-end of the session, erasing gains and ending flat with a negative bias on Monday amid selling in index heavyweights like Tata Steel, HDFC twins, Reliance Industries, and ITC. At close, the Sensex was down 37.78 points or 0.07 per cent at 54,288.61, and the Nifty was down 51.50 points or 0.32 per cent at 16,214.70. About 1390 shares have advanced, 1932 shares declined, and 158 shares are unchanged.
M&M, Maruti Suzuki, HUL, Asian Paints and Larsen and Toubro were among the top Nifty gainers, while losers included JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Divis Labs, ONGC and Hindalco Industries.
Among sectors, auto, capital goods, and IT indices added 0.5-1 per cent, while the metal index shed 8 per cent, and realty, pharma, and oil & gas index fell 1 per cent.
JSW Steel and Tata Steel were the worst-hit stocks today as they plunged 13 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively. The sharp knock came after the government levied export duty on 11 iron and steel intermediates and key steel products. The government levied an export duty of 15 per cent on almost all the major steel products (including stainless steel).
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said: “The government and RBI are making persistent efforts to moderate future inflation. Government fiscal measures like a hike in customs duty on steel and similar steps on other products in the future will help to control inflation. However, the hawkish monetary and fiscal measures adopted by RBI & Government will have a cascading effect on market & economy in the short to medium-term.”
Global Cues
Fears of recession propelled the S&P500 briefly into a bear market on Friday before it closed flat. Some recovery also led the Dow to close unchanged, while the Nasdaq fell 0.3 per cent. However, stock futures in the US gained over 1 per cent on Monday.
Asian markets were mixed this morning. Asian stocks came under pressure on Monday as persistent worries about inflation and rising interest rates dogged the global economic outlook and fresh selling in technology stocks weighed on Chinese markets. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat, after U.S. stocks ended the previous session with negligible gains for the day. The index is down 3.6 per cent so far this month. A negative tone was evident as Hang Seng Index slid 0.38 per cent and the mainland’s CSI300 dropped 0.37 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei stock index was 0.8 per cent higher.
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