Sensex sank 364 points, to post its biggest single-day plunge in eight months.
Retreating from its record high hit in the previous session, the BSE Sensex today sank about 364 points to post its biggest single-day plunge in eight months, dragged by FMCG giant ITC whose shares fell nearly 13% due to increased levies on cigarettes.
The NSE Nifty also cracked about 89 points to slip below the psychological 9,900-mark. Cigarette major ITC emerged as the worst performer after its stock dived 12.63% to Rs 284.60 following the GST Council's decision to hike cess on cigarettes by 48.50 paise to 79.20 paise per stick. Other cigarette stocks were Godfrey Phillips and VST Industries also tanked by up to 7.83%. The market sentiment was also impacted by mixed global cues as setbacks for a healthcare overhaul in the US raised doubts over prospects for a range of reforms backed by
President Donald Trump. "GST cess on cigarettes dented Nifty's surge, while global markets and the uncertainties prevailing around the earnings season kept the domestic investors cautious today. However, strength in rupee and recovery in the PSU bank stocks amidst NPA resolution hopes, shall keep 10k aspirations alive," Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services Ltd, said.
The 30-share Sensex, after opening lower at 31,775.54, reached an intra-day high of 31,911.61. The index, however, slipped as the day progressed and touched a low of 31,626.44
the day. It finally settled at 31,710.99, down 363.79 points, or 1.13%, from yesterday's close. This is the Sensex's biggest single day fall since November 21 when it had lost 385.10 points.
The index had closed at record high of 32,074.78 points after scaling all-time intra-day high of 32,131.92 points in yesterday's trade. The Nifty opened lower today at 9,832.70. After touching an intra-day high of 9,885.35, the index headed south to touch a low of 9,792.05, before finally settling at 9,827.15, down by 88.80 points, or 0.90%.
Besides cigarette makers, other laggards were Reliance Industries, SBI, Power Grid, HDFC Ltd, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Airtel, Kotak Bank and M&M, falling up to 2.03%. Among the gainers, Asian Paint led the Sensex pack by climbing 1.82%, followed by Sun Pharma 1.18%, Axis Bank 1.18%, ONGC 1.06%, Hero MotoCorp 0.83%, Dr Reddy's 0.83% and Tata Steel 0.71%.
Share of cement maker ACC continued its upward journey and gathered another 0.49% to Rs 1,759.80 after the company yesterday reported a 32.57% increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 326.23 crore for the second quarter ended June 30. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 328.61 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 447.14 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.
Sectorally, the BSE FMCG index suffered the most by dropping 6.12% followed by realty 1.10%, oil & gas 0.79%, consumer durables 0.66%, power 0.60% and PSU 0.33%. However, IT index rose 0.24%, auto 0.20%, healthcare 0.18% and teck 0.17%. In tandem with overall trends, the broader markets too succumbed to profit-booking by investors at record levels, pulling down the mid-cap index by 0.60% and small-cap index by 0.58%. Overseas, European stocks were trading lower as oil and financial stocks declined. Key indices like France and Germany dropped by 0.24% to 0.55% while UK's FTSE was quoted higher by 0.06%. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei fell 0.59%, while Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.35% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 0.21%.
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