▼ Nifty: 11,250 (-2.21%) ▼ Sensex: 38,034 (-2.09%)
After moving sideways in the first half of the day, the markets witnessed a decisive downward slide in the second half. The decline was seen across the board, with 47 of the Nifty50 stocks closing in the red. The Nifty Bank and Nifty FMCG—the major indices that dragged the market—were down over 3% each. Among the major metal stocks, Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Hindalco fell more than 5% each.
Here are the top stories of the day.
Route Mobile doubles on listing amid IPOs season
Cloud communication platform provider Route Mobile hit a century on its market debut, witnessing 102% gains over its issue price. The activity in the primary market (IPOs) is expected to remain high as three more companies hit the street this week. Computer Age Management Services (CAMS) and Chemcon Speciality Chemicals IPOs opened for subscription today and the Angel Broking IPO will open tomorrow. Together, these IPOs are expected to raise around ₹3,160 crore from the market.
HCL surges intraday over plans to acquire DWS
The stock of IT major HCL Technologies spiked nearly 5% in intraday trade—hitting a lifetime high—after the company announced its intention to acquire Australian IT firm DWS. The acquisition will help HCL enhance its presence in Australia and New Zealand. However, the stock later succumbed to overall selling witnessed in the market and ended the day with a loss of nearly 1%.
Markets doing a reality check?
The markets seemed to be in correction mode today after domestic challenges cropped up over the past few days. The uproar by the opposition parties against the farm bills, farmers' protests in some states, and the resignation of a union minister dented market sentiment. Today, all the sectoral indices declined, and the Nifty Realty (-5.9%), Nifty Metal (-5.5%) and Nifty FMCG (-3.3%) indices were among the worst hit. Adding to the gloom, the Nifty Auto index was also down (-4.4%). The August sales volumes of major auto companies showed signs of recovery. However, going by the performance of auto stocks today—Maruti (-4.8%), Ashok Leyland (-6.4%) and M&M (-5.1%)—it appears as though the market is concerned about the September retail sales figures. Meanwhile, the export-oriented IT industry represented by the Nifty IT index (-0.7%) was affected the least.
Closing bell
The intensity and broad-based nature of today’s fall in the benchmark Nifty50 could be an indication of fading investor confidence. The Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap indices also gave away most of the gains made after SEBI’s tweak relating to multi-cap funds. The above factors suggest that market volatility may rise in the week ahead as we move toward the derivatives expiry on Thursday.