FINAL TRADE: Nifty gives up 22,300, Sensex sinks 845 pts amid broad-based selling

Stock Market Today: Domestic equity benchmarks continued to fall for a second straight session on Monday, April 15, amid broad-based selling on D-Street as investors turned risk-averse after Iran's retaliatory attack on Israel over the weekend spurred fears of a wider regional conflict.

Both headline indices dropped over one per cent for the day. The Nifty index lost 246.9 points or 1.1 per cent to end at 22,272.5 while Sensex settled at 73,399.78, down 845.12 points or 1.14 per cent from its previous close. Shriram Finance, Wipro, ICICI Bank, and Bajaj twins were the top losers in Nifty50. ONGC, Hindalco, Maruti Suzuki, and Nestle India were the top two Nifty 50 gainers. Forty-four of the Nifty 50 stocks and twelve of the 13 major sectors logged losses. 

Nifty Bank ended at 47,773.25, down 791.3 points, or 1.63 per cent. The broader, more domestically-focussed Nifty SmallCap 100 and Nifty Midcap 100 lost about 1.73 per cent and 1.57 per cent, respectively, after outperforming the benchmarks in April, ahead of the session.

"Geopolitical tensions and higher-than-expected US inflation impacted investor sentiment and dragged the indices to a lower note. The major casualties were the mid- and small-cap indices due to their rich valuation and expectation of moderation in earnings growth in Q4FY24," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Investors lost Rs 518,953.97 in wealth as the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies declined to Rs 3,94,48,097.94 at the end of trade on Monday from Rs 3,99,67,051.91 the previous day, according to provisional exchange data.

Global Market

European shares inched up on Monday, with caution around Middle East tensions at the fore, while Temenos was on course for its best day in more than 15 years after saying Hindenburg Research's allegations were found to be incorrect. The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.3 per cent at the last count.

"On the other hand, the European market opened on a positive note while oil prices inched lower as market participants expected that the diplomatic efforts were likely to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East," Nair added. 

(With agency inputs)

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