SENSEX down 700 pts in early trade, NIFTY50 holds on to 23,200; Avenue Supermarts slips 6%, Oil India surges 5%

At 9:43 AM, the S&P BSE SENSEX was trading at 76,697.93, down 680.98 points, or 0.88%, while the NSE's NIFTY50 index was trading at 23,230.95, down 200.55 points, or 0.86%.

As many as 42 stocks on the NIFTY50 index were trading in the red, while eight were trading in the green. One stock was unchanged.

The top gainers were IndusInd Bank, Britannia, Axis Bank, HUL, and TCS.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) on Friday offloaded equities worth ₹2,254.68 crore.

Stocks in news

The company reported a 4.8% rise in its consolidated net profit to ₹723.54 crore for the third quarter ended December 2024.

Besides the Q3 earnings, the company announced a top-level management reshuffle with the appointment of Unilever's Anshul Asawa as its CEO Designate.

Asawa currently serves as Country Head of Unilever in Thailand and General Manager for the Home Care business unit in Greater Asia.

Oil prices extended gains for a third session on Monday, with Brent rising above $81 a barrel to its highest in more than four months, as wider US sanctions are expected to affect Russian crude exports to top buyers China and India.

Broader Market

The BSE MidCap index was trading at 43,580.07, down 660.82 points, or 1.49%, while the BSE SmallCap index was quoting 753.07 points, or 1.43%, lower at 51,969.27 levels.

Sector Watch

All the sectoral indices were tradig in the red. The biggest loser was realty index.

The BSE REALTY index was trading at 7,383.76 levels, down 205.90 points, or 2.71%.

Global Markets

Major share indexes slipped in Asia on Monday while the dollar held near 14-month peaks after an unambiguously strong payrolls report caused the bond yields to rise to rally amid lofty equity valuations.

That hawkish jolt also raised the stakes for US consumer price figures on Wednesday, where any rise in the core greater than the forecast 0.2% would threaten to close the door on rate easing altogether.

Japanese markets are closed today. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged down 0.4%.

While the Nikkei was shut, futures traded down sharply at 38,430 compared to a cash close of 39,190.

South Korean stocks eased 0.%, with the political situation still in flux as a Constitutional Court hearing begins on Tuesday to decide if impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol will be removed from office or reinstated.

Chinese blue chips were off 0.2%, as data showed exports rose a surprisingly steep 10.7% and imports added 1%.