Stock market investors lose ₹4 lakh crore in today's meltdown: 10 updates
Premium- Infosys and HDFC Bank were among the top losers in Sensex pack
Indian stock markets benchmark Sensex fell nearly 1500 points today amid weak global cues and losses in IT stocks, wiping out nearly ₹4 lakh crore of investor wealth. Infosys crashed 9% on missing March-quarter profit estimates, while inflation concerns globally also weighed on investors' sentiment. The NSE Nifty 50 index was down 1.9% to 17,142.50. The
Here are 10 updates from Indian stock markets:
1) Infosys led the losses in IT stocks after the firm's consolidated net profit for the March quarter was ₹5686 crore, lower than analysts' expectation of 59.80 billion rupees.
2) That dragged the Nifty's IT sub-index down more than 4%, making it the biggest decliner among major sub-indexes.
3) Last week, rival Tata Consultancy Services also slightly missed estimates. Its shares slid 3% to a one-month.
4) Beyond IT stocks, India's top private-sector lender HDFC Bank extended losses to an eighth session, slipping 4% after it posted March quarter results over the weekend.
5) The bank's net interest margin, a key measure of profitability, contracted due to rise in share of corporate loans and slower growth in credit cards and auto loans, brokerage Jefferies said in a note.
6) “In the near-term, headwinds are getting stronger for the market. Globally, sentiments are negative with Dollar index above 100, 10-year yield above 2.8 percent and global economy expected to weaken if the Ukraine war prolongs," said Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
7) Back home in India, he added, Infosys results came worse-than-expected with rising attrition and weakening margins even though growth prospects appear bright. IT valuations may come under pressure dragging the index down, he added.
8) Meanwhile, several markets in Asia and Europe were closed on Monday. U.S. equity futures, however, declined amid a rise in oil prices due to the deepening crisis in Ukraine. Asian markets ended lower today the Chinese government warned of economic "significant challenges" ahead even as figures showed world's second largest economy grew at 4.8% in the first quarter of this year, up from up from 4% in the final months of 2021. Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 ended down more than 1%.
9) China's Shanghai reported the first COVID-19 deaths of the latest outbreak in China’s most populous and wealthiest city.
10) Oil prices rose today further today, with Brent Crude topping $111 a barrel on reports of further energy sanctions on Russia. Central banks in several major economies including the United States, Canada and Britain have already started raising interest rates to contain prices, but the European Central Bank on Thursday kept its stimulus plans and rates unchanged.