Sensex, Nifty Plunge 3% Amid Selloff In Financial Shares: 10 Things To Know

At 2:20 pm, the Sensex traded 861.58 points - or 2.81 per cent - lower at 30,214.06 while the Nifty was down 258.70 points - or 2.78 per cent - at 8,882.80, as losses in banking and financial services stocks dragged the markets. In the Nifty basket of 50 components, 40 shares moved lower at the time. Top percentage losers were IndusInd Bank, Zee Entertainment, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki, trading between 6.9 per cent and 8.6 per cent lower. On the other hand, Cipla, Infosys, TCS and Bharti Infratel - up between 2.01 per cent and 3.67 per cent each - were the top Nifty gainers. ICICI Bank (down 6.58 per cent), HDFC Bank (5.43 per cent) and HDFC (6.27 per cent) alone accounted for a fall of more than 400 points in the Sensex. Reliance Industries shares edged higher by 0.4 per cent, albeit off their early morning highs, after the US-based private equity firm General Atlantic decided to invest Rs 6,598.38 crore for a 1.34 per cent stake in Jio Platforms. "Since the lockdown is extended till May 31, there is some disappointment. Economic activity will take some time to pick up and that is reflected in market mood. Though the government has announced various measures, execution remains important," Anita Gandhi, director at Arihant Capital, told NDTV. On Sunday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the fifth and last set of measures under the government's "Atma Nirbhar Bharat" package to shield the economy against the coronavirus outbreak and the lockdown which began on March 25. The Finance Minister said the stimulus measures brought in by the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) added up to Rs 20.97 lakh crore. In the fifth tranche of measures, Ms Sitharaman announced privatisation of state-run companies in non-strategic sectors and suspension of new insolvency cases for a year. The government has been trying to divest parts of state-run companies in sectors ranging from aviation to power to fill its coffers, but it has confronted weak investor sentiment and limited demand. The Finance Minister also raised the borrowing limits for state governments to 5 per cent of their GDP or gross domestic product, from 3 per cent. The Union government will allow states to raise an additional Rs 4.28 lakh crore in the current financial year, she said. Last Friday, the S&P BSE Sensex index had ended 25.16 points - or 0.08 per cent - lower at 31,097.73 and the broader NSE Nifty 50 benchmark at 9,136.85.

Sensex, Nifty Plunge 3% Amid Selloff In Financial Shares: 10 Things To Know

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