BEARS TAKE HOLD OF MARKET, SENSEX CRASHES 1,100 POINTS
Bears were on rampage at the bourses with frontline benchmark indices collapsing on Mond ay as traders resorted to hea vy selling in auto , IT and public sector bank stocks.
Market exper ts said the ri se in fuel prices acr oss inter national mar kets followed by its reverberations in domestic markets along with hi gher inflation expectations dampened the investor sentiment.
Uptick in Covid-19 infections across Maharashtra and Kerala also led to profit booking by traders on a day of volatality.
The BSE S&P Sensex c losed 1,145 points or 2.25 per cent d own at 49,744 while the Nifty 50 edg ed lower by 306 points or 2.04 per cent to 14,676.
Except for Nifty metal, which moved up by 1.6 per cent, all other sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty IT and real--
ty do wn b y 2.8 per cent eac h, PSU bank b y 2.6 per cent, phar ma b y 2.5 per cent and auto by 2.2 per cent.
Among stoc ks, Eicher Motors crashed by 5 per cent to Rs 2,453 per share w hile Mahin dra & Mahi ndra sank b y 4.7 per cent to Rs 837.90. Maruti Suzuki skidded by 3.3 per cent to close at Rs 7,087.15 per share.
Tech Mahindra lost b y 4.6 per cent, Dr Reddy's by 4.4 per cent, Axis Bank by 4 per cent, IndusInd Bank b y 3.9 per cent and SBI Life b y 3.8 per cent. Index heavy weight R eliance Industries dipped by 3.8 per cent and wound up the day at Rs 2,000.10 per share.
However, metal stocks g ained substantially with JSW Steel up by 2.3 per cent, Hindalco by 2 p er cent and T ata Steel b y 1.4 per cent. Besides , Adani Ports, ONGC, HDFC Bank, Britannia, Hero Moto Corp and A sian P aints traded higher.
Meanwhile, A sian shar e mar kets inched up as expecta tions f or f aster economic growth and inflation globally boosted commodities.
Japan's Nikkei recouped by 0.46 per cent b ut Hong K ong's Hang Seng index fell by 1.06 per cent on policy tightening fears.