Sensex Slumps 746 Points In Biggest Single-Day Selloff Of 2021

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes fell for second straight session on Friday as investors booked profits at record highs. Friday’s selloff marked the worst day for markets in 2021 a day after Sensex crossed above 50,000-mark for the first time. The benchmarks opened lower and extended losses in noon deals owing to intense selling pressure in banking, metal and financial services shares. The Sensex fell as much as 793 points to hit an intraday low of 48,832.08 and Nifty 50 index dropped below its important psychological level of 14,400. Reliance Industries was top drag on the Sensex ahead of its December quarter earnings.

The Sensex dropped 746 points or 1.5 per cent to close at 48,879 and Nifty 50 index tumbled 218 points or 1.5 per cent to end at 14,372.

Nine of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty Metal index’s 4 per cent drop. Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Media, Pharma, PSU Bank and Private Bank indices also fell between 1.4-3.2 per cent.

On the other hand, auto shares were witnessing buying interest.

Mid- and small-cap shares also succumbed to selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index dropped 1.2 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 0.6 per cent.

Among the individual shares, JK Tyre Industries rose as much as 15.4 per cent to hit fresh 52-week high of Rs 133.40 on the BSE after it reported strong earnings in quarter ended December 2020. The Delhi-based tyre maker in an exchange filing post market hours on Thursday said that its consolidated profit came in at Rs 224 crore compared with Rs 11 crore during the corresponding period a year ago.

SBI Card gained as much as 4 per cent while Biocon fell 9 per cent after announcing their December third quarter results.

Axis Bank was top Nifty gainer, the stock fell 4.5 per cent to close at Rs 645. Asian Paints, JSW Steel, ICICI Bank, Hindalco, IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, Bharat Petroleum, Coal India, UPL, HDFC, Reliance Industries and SBI Life also fell between 2-4 per cent.

On the flipside, Bajaj Auto rose more than 11per cent to record high of Rs 4,130 a day after the two-wheeler maker’s profit in October-December period rose 23 per cent to Rs 1,556 crore against Rs 1,262 crore during the same quarter last year.

Hero MotoCorp, Eicher Motors, Hindustan Unilever, UltraTech Cement, TCS, GAIL India, Tata Motors, Bajaj Finserv and Shree Cement were among the notable gainers.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative as 2,004 shares ended lower while 980 closed higher on the BSE.