Our Correspondent
After 10 consecutive days of gains, the stock market plunged on October 15. The Sensex fell more than a thousand points. The Nifty lost 290 points. Adverse global signals led the market to a strong correction.
News of the spread of COVID-19 in European countries led to a sudden sell-off in the market. Lockdown restrictions have been tightened as European countries have reached higher levels of COVID spread.
The Sensex was down 1,380 points from the day’s highs. The Sensex, which had gained 41,048.05 points in the morning, later fell to 39,667.47 points and closed at 39,728 points.
The Nifty opened above 12,000 points in the morning. Similarly, Nifty closed at 11,680 points, up 12,025 points. Lockdown news led the stock market to err on the side of misconceptions that the Nifty could rise above 12,000 points.
Banks, financial services, IT and pharma were the main losers. Shares of private banks and NBFCs fell sharply. The Nifty Bank Index was down 3.36 per cent and the Nifty IT Index was down 2.87 per cent. Banks and IT stocks, which had been gaining ground in recent days, were under strong selling pressure on the day.
Most stocks lost ground. Out of the 50 stocks in the Nifty, only three gained. Asian Paints, JSW Steel and Coal India were the top gainers.
The top five losers were Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank and Reliance Industries. Shares of Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra and ICICI Bank fell more than 4%.
Leading IT stocks Infosys, TCS and Wipro fell more than two per cent. Infosys reported strong quarterly earnings, but higher-than-expected booking of profit led the stock markets to fall.
