Mumbai, 24/1: Equity benchmark indices fell for a fifth straight session on Monday and plumbed three-week lows, weighed down by selling across the board with technology stocks extending losses to a sixth day.
At 1.55 pm, Sensex was trading 1,579.78 points (or 2.68 per cent) lower at 57,457.40, while Nifty was down 479.15 points (2.72 per cent) at 17,138.00.
Both indexes have declined more than 6 per cent since scaling all-time highs in October.
A global sell-off in technology stocks as investors worried about high inflation and braced for tighter monetary policies triggered a slide in Indian technology names last week.
Investors now look forward to this week’s Federal Reserve meeting where the US central bank is expected to confirm it would soon start draining the massive lake of liquidity that has boosted growth stocks in recent years.
“The broad-based selling we saw last week has spilled over and only after the Fed meeting this week, we’ll be able to get some clarity on further moves,” said Anita Gandhi, director at Arihant Capital Markets.
The Nifty IT sub-index fell 2.4 per cent to hit a seven-week low, after shedding more than 7 per cent last week.
Food delivery platform Zomato crashed 19 per cent and online retailer Nykaa tumbled 11. per cent, hitting their lowest since 2021 debuts.
Most stocks that went public recently are very expensive and a much needed correction is now underway, Gandhi said.
The Nifty metal sub-index slid as much as 2.78 per cent. Shares of JSW Steel fell 4.2 per cent after the company’s quarterly net profit missed analysts’ estimates.
Realty stocks fell 3.1 per cent to a four-week low, while pharma stocks slipped 1.9 per cent to a nine-month trough.
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