Equity market dips today as COVID disrupts investor sentiments

Among headline indices, the S&P BSE Sensex ended the day at 49,591 level, down 155 points. 50 per cent of the constituents ended the day in the red with Bajaj Finance (down 3 per cent), Ultratech Cement, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Reliance Industries leading the list of losers. On the upside, Sun Pharma, HUL, Tech Mahindra, Titan Company, Dr Reddy’s Labs, and HCL Tech were the top gainers on the index, up in the range of 1 per cent to 3.5 per cent.

On the NSE, the 50-share barometer settled at 14,835 levels, down 39 points dragged down by UPL, Tata Steel, Coal India, and Axis Bank. Trends in the broader markets were mixed as the S&P BSE SmallCap index closed 0.7 per cent higher while the S&P BSE MidCap index dipped 0.07 per cent. The SmallCap index hit fresh record peak of 21,667, for second day in a row on the back of gains in Srei Infra, Butterfly Gandhimathi, Kilitch Drugs, Subex, Bank of Maharashtra, Aarti Surfactants, Vimta Labs, and Sasken Technologies.

Among individual stocks, shares of Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited hit 20 per cent upper circuit at Rs 7.02 on the BSE after its subsidiary Srei Equipment Finance Limited said it has received expression of interest for up to $250 million capital infusion in the company from international private equity (PE) funds.

Those of Khadim India, meanwhile, extended their winning run to the fourth day in a row and jumped over 7 per cent in the intra-day trade to hit a high of Rs159 on the BSE following a change in the credit rating of the company by rating agency ICRA. The agency has revised long term credit rating on the company’s overall borrowings of Rs204 crore to BBB- from BBB, although, it tweaked the outlook to ‘Stable’ from ‘Negative’.