The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes crashed on the first day of financial year 2020-21 on Wednesday as the number of coronavirus cases continue to rise in the country amid 21-day lockdown. Intense selling pressure in banking, financial services and information technology shares led to sharp losses on Dalal Street. The Sensex fell as much as 1,395 points and the Nifty 50 index briefly dropped below important psychological level of 8,200. Infosys, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank were among the biggest drags on the Sensex. They collectively wiped out our 650 points from the Sensex.
The Sensex tumbled 1,203 points or 4 per cent to close at 28,265 and the NSE Nifty 50 index dropped 344 points or 4 per cent to end at 8254.
As of Tuesday evening, the country had 1,238 active coronavirus cases and 35 deaths due to the COVID-19 disease.
All the 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty IT index's 5.5 per cent slide.
Nifty Bank, private bank, PSU bank, financial services and FMCG sector gauges also dropped between 3.5-5 per cent each.
Mid- and small-cap shares also faced selling pressure as the Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 2 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 1.6 per cent.
46 out 0f 50 shares in Nifty ended lower. Tech Mahindra was top Nifty loser, the stock cracked 9.4 per cent to Rs 512. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, TCS, UPL, Infosys, Shree Cements, Hindustan Unilever, State Bank of India, HCL Technologies and Britannia Industries also fell between 5-9 per cent each.
On the flipside, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Titan and Coal India were among the notable gainers.
The overall market breadth was neutral as 822 shares closed lower while 937 ended higher on the National Stock Exchange.
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