Sensex, Nifty Fall Most In Over Seven Months Dragged by Reliance

Indian equity benchmarks extended decline for fourth straight session on Monday with Nifty and Sensex dropping the most since April 12, at the day's lowest levels, as investor sentiment was shaken after weak listing of the country's biggest-ever Paytm's IPO. Roll back of three farm laws along with continuous selling by foreign institutional investors also added to the heightened volatility on Dalal Street, analysts said. The Sensex fell as much as 2.72 per cent or 1,624 points and Nifty 50 index briefly dropped below its important psychological level of 17,300.

The Sensex dropped 1,170 points to close at 58,466 and Nifty 50 index tumbled 348 points to end at 17,416.

"Weak listing of Paytm's shares and subsequent selling on second day and roll back of farm reform laws over the weekend spooked investors," AK Prabahakar, head of research at IDBI Capital told NDTV over the phone.

Reliance Industries was top drag on the Sensex, the decline in stock alone added over 300 points to fall in the 30-share index. Reliance Industries came under selling pressure after country's largest firm decided to halt a stake sale in its oil-to-chemicals business (O2C) to Saudi Arabia's Aramco and pulled back from a potential spinoff of its most profitable unit. The stock ended 4.4 per cent lower at Rs 2,363.

Paytm's market capitalisation or its market value dropped by as much as Rs 56,233 crore after its disastrous market debut on Thursday, November 18, data from the BSE showed. Paytm shares have crashed as much as 40 per cent from its IPO price to hit low of Rs 1,283 in just two trading sessions. Analysts have pointed at high valuations as the reason behind the spiraling downfall in the stock price.

Selling pressure was broad-based as all the 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty PSU Bank index's 4.5 per cent fall. Nifty Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables, Healthcare, Private Bank, Media, Financial Services, Auto and Bank indexes also fell between 2-4 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares also faced intense selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index dropped 3 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 2.74 per cent.

Bajaj Finance was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 5.6 per cent to close at Rs 7,065. Bajaj Finserv, Tata Motors, Reliance Industries, NTPC, Indian Oil, State Bank of India, Titan, UPL, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, ITC and Tata Consumer Products also fell between 3.5 per cent.

On the flipside, Bharti Airtel advanced nearly 4 per cent to close at record high of Rs 741 after the company informed exchanges that it has hiked prepaid tariffs by up to 25 per cent.

JSW Steel, Asian Paints, power Grid, Hindalco, Grasim Industries, Britannia, Cipla and IndusInd Bank were among the notable gainers.

The overall market breadth was negative as 2,498 shares ended lower while 906 closed higher on the BSE.