Equity indices dip over 1 pc, banking and financial stocks suffer
Mar 15, 2021
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 15 : Equity benchmark indices dropped by over 1 per cent during early hours on Monday with banking and financial stocks seeing profit booking by traders.
Market experts said rising crude prices and their impact on retail fuel prices are a risk to inflation going forward. This factor added to the nervousness of investors.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 623 points or 1.23 per cent at 50,169 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 173 points or 1.15 per cent to 14,858.
All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty private bank down by 1.6 per cent, PSU bank by 1.1 per cent and financial service by 1.4 per cent.
Among stocks, Axis Bank fell by 2.9 per cent to Rs 728.70 per share, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank by by 1.5 per cent each while State Bank of India slipped by 1.9 per cent to Rs 373.65.
Bajaj Finserv lost by 1.9 per cent and Bajaj Finance by 1.6 per cent. The other major losers were Adani Ports, GAIL and Bajaj Auto. However, some metal stocks like Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Hindalco showed marginal uptick.
Meanwhile, Asian stock prices inched higher while US bond yields hovered near a 13-month peak as investors bet US economic growth will accelerate after the 1.9 trillion dollar stimulus bill President Joe Biden signed into law last week.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose by 0.2 per cent with Hong Kong leading the gains. Japan shares gained slightly on economic rebound hopes.
