5 Reasons Why Sensex Plunged 587 Points Today

Mon, 19 Jul Closing | Nandini Mehta, TM Team

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Indian share markets witnessed a sharp sell-off today and ended deep in the red.

Benchmark indices joined the global sell-off and plunged over 1% today amid uncontrolled pandemic-led situations in parts of Asia and fear of faltering economic growth.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 587 points (down 1.1%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 171 points (down 1.1%).

NTPC and BPCL were among the top gainers today.

HDFC Bank and IndusInd Bank, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 15,757, down by 180 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE MidCap index and the BSE SmallCap index ended down by 0.6% and 0.3%, respectively.

Sectoral indices ended on a negative note with stocks in the banking sector, finance sector and metal sector witnessing most of the selling pressure.

Healthcare stocks, on the other hand, witnessed buying interest.

Shares of Crisil and DCM Shriram hit their respective 52-week highs today.

US stock futures are trading on a negative note today with the Dow Futures trading down by 308 points.

The rupee is trading at 74.81 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.3% at Rs 47,921 per 10 grams.

Here are 5 Factors That Dragged the Market Lower

Weak Asian Cues: Indian market fell in sync with major Asian peers who were under pressure as investors avoided riskier equities and bought safe-haven assets such as gold amid concerns of rising inflation and a continuous surge in coronavirus cases.

Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell over 2% each while Korea's KOSPI and China's Shanghai Composite Index fell about 1% each.

Banking, Financial Stocks Drag: Poor show of banking and financial heavyweights, such as HDFC twins, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank and SBI, pushed the equity benchmarks lower.

Banking and financial stocks came under fresh pressure after the June-quarter numbers of HDFC Bank failed to meet market expectations.

Economic Recovery Falters: Global economic growth is beginning to show signs of fatigue.

Economists at Bank of America downgraded their forecast for US economic growth to 6.5% this year, from 7% previously, but maintained their 5.5% forecast for next year.

Virus Scare: Many countries, particularly in Asia, are struggling to curb the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus and have been forced into taking lockdown measures.

Relentless Selling of FPIs: Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have been selling equities in July.

As per data available with National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL), FPIs have sold Indian equities worth Rs 45.2 bn in July so far.

They have invested some money in the debt segment so net-net, they have pulled out Rs 15.2 bn from the Indian financial market in July so far.

We will keep you updated on how these factors develop in the coming days and what effect they have on Indian stock markets. Stay tuned!

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Tata Power, HPCL to Set Up EV Charging Stations at Its Petrol Pumps

In news from the power sector, Tata Power was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Tata Power has signed an agreement with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) to provide end-to-end electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at HPCL's retail outlets (petrol pumps) in multiple cities and major highways across the country.

Tata Power is a pioneer in the EV Charging space and owns an expansive network of over 500 public chargers in 100+ cities covering petrol pumps, metro stations, shopping malls, theatres and highways.

The company is present across all segments of the EV eco-system - public charging, captive charging, home, workplace charging and ultra-rapid chargers for buses.

Under the agreement, Tata Power will provide state-of-the-art EV charging infrastructure at HPCL pumps for EV users who can travel within cities & intercity without any range anxiety.

The charging is enabled with the Tata Power EZ charge mobile platform (an award-winning app) which makes it a seamless experience to vehicle owners.

The partnership will play a strong role in encouraging EV owners to charge their electric vehicles across various petrol pumps.

It is also in line with the government of India's National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) which aims to develop electric vehicle charging infrastructure using the latest technological platform along with easy access to electric vehicle for charging points.

Sandeep Bangia, head, EV charging, Tata Power, said,

• This strategic tie-up provides us access to a vast retail base of HPCL, especially in cities and along the key highways.
  
  The move will tremendously benefit the EV users as it will not only provide them easy access to charging points but also remove the range anxiety, resulting in wider adoption of electric vehicles in the country.

Tata Power share price ended the day up by 1.2% on the BSE.

Speaking of electric vehicles, note that the power ministry has approved setting up 2,636 electric vehicle charging stations across 62 cities in 24 states.

Here's what co-head of Research at Equitymaster, Tanushree Banerjee wrote about electric vehicles in one of her editions of Profit Hunter:

• '106 public and private entities have approached the government for permissions to set up about 7,000 EV charging stations.
  
  This clearly shows the vehicle manufacturers have enough incentive to capture this latent demand.
  
  The tax benefit in terms of a lower GST rate (at 5%) is a further shot in the arm of the EV industry.'

As per Tanushree, electric vehicles are very much on their way to invading Indian roads. The threat of disruption in this era is something you cannot ignore.

Moving on to news from the engineering sector...

L&T Hits New High on Winning Significant Contracts for Various Businesses

Shares of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) hit a new high of Rs 1,638.7, up 1% on the BSE in the intra-day trade today, in an otherwise weak market, after the construction & engineering major said, L&T Construction, the construction arm of the company, has won a slew of orders in India and abroad for its various businesses.

According to L&T, the order value ranges between Rs 10 bn and Rs 25 bn.

The power transmission and distribution business has won an order to construct a 220kV transmission line associated with system strengthening in the Ladakh region.

The design and execution of this system involves traversing avalanche prone, hilly terrains and ice loading of conductors.

Another turnkey order has been received for urban power distribution in Ayodhya city under the Integrated power development scheme.

Meanwhile globally, the company has won an order to design, supply, construct, install, test, and commission a 132/11kV substation with associated cable works in Dubai City.

Additionally, two transmission line packages have been secured in Africa, L&T said in a press release.

'The factories business has secured a prestigious order from a leading cement manufacturer in India to construct a 1.8 MTPA grinding unit in Dolvi, Maharashtra. The scope involves civil, mechanical and equipment installation works,' the company said.

L&T's board is scheduled to meet on 26 July 2021 to consider and approve the unaudited financial results of the company for the quarter ended 30 June 2021.

Larsen & Toubro share price ended the day down by 0.6% on the BSE.

We will keep you updated on the latest news from this space. Stay tuned!

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