Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices, which resumed trading after a long holiday, faced heavy drubbing on Monday, with the Sensex plunging over 1,186 points in early trade. The key index was dragged down by heavyweights Infosys and HDFC Bank amid weak trends in Asian markets. Stock markets were closed on Thursday for Mahavir Jayanti and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti, as well as on Friday on account of Good Friday.
The Sensex was trading 1,186.18 points lower at 57,152.75 in early trade. The Nifty tumbled 314.95 points to 17,160.70. From the 30-share pack, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, TCS, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Wipro and HCL Technologies were among the major laggards in early trade. In contrast, NTPC, Tata Steel, M&M, Maruti and Power Grid were among the gainers. Shares of Infosys tanked 8.95 per cent to Rs 1,592.05 on the BSE despite the country's second-largest software services firm last week reporting a 12 per cent year-on-year increase in consolidated net profit for the March quarter at Rs 5,686 crore.
HDFC Bank declined 3.35 per cent to Rs 1,415.75 even as the largest domestic private sector lender Bank on Saturday posted a 22.8 per cent jump in its standalone net profit at Rs 10,055.2 crore for the quarter ended March 2022. In Asia, markets were trading lower, with Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo quoting in the red in mid-session deals. Stocks in the US had ended lower on Thursday. International oil benchmark Brent crude gained 1.01 per cent to USD 112.83 per barrel. On Wednesday, the Sensex declined 237.44 points or 0.41 per cent to settle at 58,338.93. The NSE Nifty dipped 54.65 points or 0.31 per cent to finish at 17,475.65. Foreign institutional investors continued to offload shares worth Rs 2,061.04 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
The rupee declined 24 paise to 76.43 against the US dollar in the opening trade on Monday tracking the strength of the dollar and elevated crude oil prices. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened on a muted note at 76.41 against the American dollar, then fell and touched an early low of 76.43 in initial deals, registering a fall of 24 paise over its previous close.
On Wednesday, the rupee dipped 4 paise to close at 76.19 against the US dollar. The forex market was closed on Thursday for Mahavir Jayanti and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti and on Friday on account of Good Friday. Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude futures surged 0.97 per cent to USD 112.78 per barrel. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.18 per cent to 100.67.
"The US dollar has started stronger this early Monday morning in Asian trade as more hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials reinforced expectations for faster US policy tightening," Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities said. Hawkish Fed officials and dovish European Central Bank (ECB) continued to push the dollar and the bond yields higher and will weigh on sentiments.
"Emerging market and Asian peers were weaker against the US dollar this Monday morning and can weigh on sentiments," Iyer noted. On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 941.21 points or 1.61 per cent lower at 57,397.72, while the broader NSE Nifty declined by 245.00 points, or 1.4 per cent, to 17,230.65. Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,061.04 crore, according to stock exchange data.
Read: Earnings, global cues to dictate market trend this week: Analysts
PTI
