Nifty Slumps 350 Points As Covid Cases Weigh

Fresh curfew being imposed in many states like Tamil Nadu and Bihar coupled with already imposed curfew in many states due to rising Covid cases, raised fresh worries of an economic slowdown.

The Sensex and the Nifty both retreated in trade with the Nifty dropping as much as 1.5 per cent in early trade. The Bank Nifty fell as much as 4 per cent in trade, following worries of a slowdown in growth, might impact banks.

Shares in HDFC Bank fell after the bank said that net profit increased to Rs 8,186.51 crore in Q4FY21, from Rs 6,927.7 crore in year-ago period. The Bank also saw its Net interest income rising by 12.6 percent to Rs 17,120.2 crore from Rs 15,204.1 crore in same period. The shares were down 3.21 per cent in trade.

Among the top Nifty losers in trade were Adani ports, State Bank of India Tata Motors. The only Nifty gainer in trade was Cipla.

Mindtree too Saw its shares fall after the company reported a 2.8 percent decline in Q4FY21 profit at Rs 317.3 crore against Rs 326.5 crore in Q3FY21.

Meanwhile, most of the Asian markets were trading with gains led by the Shanghai Composite. Dow Futures were marginally down in trade.