Mumbai: The equity markets slumped sharply for the second consecutive day as weakness in global equities triggered a massive sell-off in financial and IT sector stocks. The Sensex lost 340.78 points or 1.01 per cent to end the day at 33,349.31 while the Nifty ended the day at 10,030, down 94.90 points or 0.94 per cent.
Yes Bank was the biggest loser among the Sensex constituents plunging 8.97 per cent on the BSE as uncertainty around its succession plan and its exposure to debt laden IL&FS caused panic selling, a day after it reported weak set of numbers for the quarter ended September 2018.
Meanwhile, shares of Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank slumped 4.04 per cent and 3.14 per cent while software exporters such as TCS and Infosys dropped 2.86 per cent and 2.43 per cent respectively.
“Market continued to trade on a negative bias due to global growth concerns and widening fiscal deficit. Earnings season has started with buoyancy of 15 per cent YoY earnings growth. Though initial set of results was good and as the season progressed companies are struggling to maintain a decent operational efficiency due to rising input costs, interest rates and depreciation in Indian rupee. This in turn increased the scope of downgrade in earnings in coming quarters,” said Vinod Nair, Head Of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
If global volatility continues, he said investors focus would shift towards safe haven assets such as gold and bonds.
According to the provisional data released by the stock exchanges foreign portfolio investors (FPI) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,356.66 crore.
The broader markets also remained weak with 1,466 stocks declining as against 1,094 stocks that advanced.
