SENSEX crashes 1,900 pts, NIFTY50 below 22,450 in noon deals; HDFC Bank, L&T, IndiGo among buzzing stocks

The Indian benchmark indices, SENSEX and NIFTY50, continued to slide downward into the deep red during the volatile afternoon session on Monday, March 23, amid weak global cues as the war in West Asia continued to rage.

Investor sentiment was also impacted by the rupee hitting a fresh low and persistent outflow in FIIs.

The SENSEX crashed by as many as 1,972.77 points to touch an intraday low of 72,560.19. Meanwhile, the NIFTY50 touched the session’s low of 22,478.15.

At 1:03 PM, the S&P BSE SENSEX was trading 1,934.38 points, or 2.60% lower at 72,598.58, while NSE’s NIFTY50 tanked to 22,484.35, marking a 630.15 points, or 2.73% drop.

On Friday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold stocks worth ₹5,518.39 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased equities worth ₹5,706.23 crore on a net basis, according to exchange data.

Furthermore, the Indian rupee fell to a new low of 93.92 against the US dollar in early market hours.

Meanwhile, the India VIX, the volatility gauge, spiked over 17% during Monday’s noon session.

The top losers in the NIFTY50 index were Shriram Finance (-6.86%), IndiGo (-5.68%), Jio Financial Services (-5.08%), UltraTech Cement (-5.02%) and JSW Steel (-4.97%).

On the contrary, just four stocks in the index were trading in the green, including HCL Technologies (1.17%), Tech Mahindra (0.97%), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (0.32%) and Power Grid Corporation of India (0.10%).

Buzzing stocks on March 23: Check list

Shares of gold financiers Muthoot Finance and Manappuram Finance were trading with losses in the early trade on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), amid a sharp decline in gold prices.

Gold futures for April delivery slumped as much as ₹11,140 or 7.71% to an intraday low of ₹1,33,352 per 10 grams on the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) on Monday, March 23. In the previous week, the yellow metal contract tanked 9%.

Globally, COMEX gold (April expiry) fell as much as 7.6% to the day’s low of $4,226.40 per troy ounce. It declined 10% in the previous week, marking its worst weekly fall in 43 years.

Prices of precious metals declined amid concerns about rising inflation, as the war in West Asia stoked a global energy crisis that has sent Brent crude oil prices soaring. On Monday, Brent Crude oil surged to an intraday high of $114.35 per barrel (bbl). The contract has hovered over the $100 per bbl mark in the past week.

The stocks of aviation companies InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo) and SpiceJet were trading with notable losses in the morning trade on Monday, March 23.

SpiceJet shares fell as much as 9.95% to hit a low of ₹10.85 apiece on the BSE, before turning to trade in the green.

IndiGo declined by as much as 6.12% to ₹3,895.20 on the NSE, as the government announced the removal of temporary caps on domestic airfares that were imposed in the wake of the IndiGo flight disruptions in December last year on Friday.

Airfare caps are government-imposed limits on ticket prices that airlines can charge for specific routes, usually set as a minimum and maximum fare band.

The airfare caps' removal will be effective from March 23, according to an order issued by the civil aviation ministry.

The removal also comes at a time when airlines are facing significant operational disruptions in international routes due to the West Asia conflict.

Metal stocks such as Hindustan Copper, SAIL, Jindal Steel, and others were trading in the red, amid a 5% decline in the NIFTY Metal index.

Metal shares came under selling pressure amid the prolonged war in the Middle East and rising concerns over the disruption of global energy security.

Shares of Innovision Ltd debuted at ₹467.70 apiece on the NSE, marking a discount of 9.88% against the IPO issue price of ₹519 per equity share.

On the BSE, the stock started trading at ₹466, down 10.21% from the issue price.

The initial public offering was subscribed a total of 3.32 times. The IPO got bids for 2,12,70,519 shares compared to 63,99,943 shares on offer, according to data available on the NSE website.

A lot consisted of 27 shares. Investors who received the Innovision IPO allotment saw their investment value drop to ₹12,627.9 per lot.

The stock of HDFC Bank slumped as much as 4.13% to a 52-week low of ₹748.25 per equity share, amid reports suggesting that it asked three senior executives to leave the bank for their alleged involvement in the mis-selling of Credit Suisse’s Additional Tier 1 Bonds.

As per reports, HDFC Bank is investigating allegations that its employees mis-sold high-risk AT1 bonds from its Dubai branch.

The development comes days after its non-executive chairman, Atanu Chakraborty, abruptly resigned from his position on March 18, citing differences over “values and ethics”.

Shares of L&T fell as much as 4.25% to an intraday low of ₹3,288.80 apiece, despite the company stating it has not seen any major business impact because of the ongoing West Asia conflict, as nearly 95% of the projects are continuing to function.

The fall in share price comes amid a broad-based sell-off in the market.

DCX Systems stock climbed 12% to touch an intraday high of ₹183.83 apiece on the NSE, as the firm bagged an order from a domestic customer.

The leading defence manufacturing player in regulatory filing said the order is worth ₹563.45 crore, including the manufacture and supply of maritime patrol radar systems (MPR) for the airborne application.