GLOBAL SELLOFF, BANKING WOES PULL DOWN SENSEX, NIFTY

Bank stocks fell sharply on asset quality concerns leading to the biggest fall registered by the Sensex and the Nifty-50 in the last two and a half months.

Rising inflation, resurgence in Covid cases led to a sell off in the major Asian markets tracking a drop by 0.8 per cent in US market indices last Friday.

The Sensex fell 586 points or 1.10 per cent to

52,553 while Nifty-50 fell

171 points or 1.07 per cent to 15,752.40. Nifty Bank index fell 1.88 per cent as index heavyweight HDFC Bank fell 3.28 per cent on asset quality concerns after it declared first quarter results last week.

Auto and metal sector stocks also fell as BSE Auto index fell 1..05 per cent and BSE Metal index fell 1.43 per cent.

Broader market fared better with BSE Mid-cap index fell 0.58 per cent and BSE Small-cap index fell 0..31 per cent as they were less impacted by FPIs selling.

Rising inflation and a resurgence in Covid cases in Europe and Asia led to a sell-off in the major Asian markets. A drop by

0.8 per cent in US market indices last Friday also was also a factor.

Foreign portfolio investors selling was the main reason for market fall, FPIs net sold equities worth `2,198.71 crore as per the provisional data.

“Globally, markets remained weak as investors turned pessimist over rising Delta variant of Covid cases, fear of possible lockdown and impact of rising inflation on economic recovery. Following global trend, domestic equities witnessed selling pressure and ended lower by more than one per cent,” Siddhartha Khemka, head, retail research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services said.

“Selling was witnessed in banking and financial services stocks after HDFC Bank’s net profit missed expectations,” Khemka said.