FINAL TRADE: Worst day for Nifty50 in 7 months amid broad-based sell-off as Middle East tensions rise

Domestic equity benchmarks fell more than one per cent each on Monday amid a sell-off across sectors, as Dalal Street tracked a sea of red from global markets on account of a widening conflict in the Middle East that hurt already weak investor sentiment, and nervousness about key macroeconomic data and big tech earnings from the world's largest economy due this week. Globally, investors have already been trimming their bullish bets on the markets owing to a higher-for-longer interest rate theme at play.  

Both headline indices finished 1.3 per cent lower for the day, with the final nail in the coffin coming in the final 30 minutes of trade. The Sensex shed 825.7 points to end at 64,571.9 and the Nifty50 settled at 19,281.8, down 260.9 points for the day. That was the worst single-day loss in more than seven months for the Nifty and more than three months for the leaner gauge.

Barring Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj Finance, which eked out gains to the tune of 0.1-0.2 per cent each, all of the Nifty50 components finished the day in the red. 

LTIMindtree, Adani Enterprises, Hindalco, JSW Steel, Adani Ports, UPL, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and HDFC Life, finishing between 2.3 per cent and 3.9 per cent lower, were the worst hit in the 50-scrip basket.

HDFC Bank, Reliance, TCS, Infosys and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) were the biggest drags on the 30-scrip index.

“Global equities fell as the 10-year yield on US Treasuries hit five per cent for the first time since 2007 and as investors worried that the war between Israel and Hamas could turn into a bigger Middle Eastern conflict,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.

NSE's India VIX index—widely known in market parlance as the fear index—rose 0.8 per cent for the day to 10.9, after soaring as much as five per cent during the session.

Overall market breadth remained extremely negative throughout the session, with an advance-decline ratio of 1:5 on BSE as only 638 stocks finished higher against 3,196 scrips that succumbed to the negative zone on the bourse.

Only 21 stocks in the BSE 500 universe—the broadest index on the bourse—managed a positive closing, with SJVN, Jubilant Pharma, Star Cement, RCF and Finolex, plunging 10-12 per cent each, falling the most.

Analysts awaited the ongoing earnings season to gather steam for domestic cues, with large corporates such as Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paints, Dr Reddy's, Cipla, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank (PNB), Reliance, NTPC, IDFC First Bank, SBI Life and Muthoot Finance slated to report their financial results this week.

Global markets

European shares began the day deep in the red, mirroring the losses across Asia, with the pan-continental Stoxx 600 index falling as much as 0.9 per cent in early hours. Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite futures were down 0.6-0.8 per cent at the last count, suggesting a negative start ahead on Wall Street.

Earlier in the day, MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan declined 0.9 per cent while Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.8 per cent. 

Catch all the highlights of the October 23 session on Dalal Street here. For all other news related to business, politics, tech, sports and auto, visit Zeebiz.com.