Indian markets opened sharply lower as crude oil surged and global equities slipped, triggering heavy selling across sectors with PSU banks, auto and media stocks among the worst hit.
Gold and silver surged while mid- and small-cap stocks saw deeper cuts, as traders weighed oil supply risks and potential fallout for Gulf trade and Indian workers abroad.
At the close, the Sensex was up 173.81 points, or 0.21%, at 83,450.96, while the Nifty was up 42.65 points, or 0.17%, at 25,725.40.
Share market fell sharply with BSE Sensex closing about 850 points down from the day’s high and NSE Nifty ending below the 23,650 mark.Both indices slipped over 1 per cent from their intraday highs
Sensex and Nifty faced their first weekly decline after four weeks of gains on Friday. The Sensex dropped to a low of 72,485 while the NSE Nifty 50 dipped to a low of 21,932.
Selling pressure was witnessed in banking stocks. Fall in the index-heavyweights HDFC Bank and Infosys weighed on the indices.
Sensex gainers were - Reliance Industries skyrocketing nearly 3% followed by L&T surging 1.5%. Stocks like Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Auto, M&M, and Bajaj Finance climbed more than 1% each.
The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC, Maruti Suzuki India, and Titan Company, while the major losers were Hindustan Unilever, HCL Technologies, and UltraTech Cement.
The domestic market declined in line with the Asian stocks over concerns of rising cases of Delta variant of Covid-19 and its impact on the global economy.
Around 9.50 a.m., it was trading at 50,062.58, higher by 270.46 points or 0.54 per cent from its previous close of 49,792.12.
