Markets fall further on slowdown fears

Mumbai: BSE Sensex dived 872 points, while NSE Nifty finished below the 17,500-mark on Monday, in tandem with a sell-off in world stocks on renewed concerns over global growth and hawkish stance of central banks. Declining for the second consecutive session, the 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 872.28 points or 1.46 per cent to close at 58,773.87. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty declined 267.75 points or 1.51 per cent to 17,490.70.

"Global markets were weak as dollar index strengthened over hawkish statements made by US Fed Chairman. On the other hand, China's property market continued to be in trouble, which forced China to cut policy rates yet again," said Siddhartha Khemka, head (retail research), Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services, said: "Consolidation was triggered in the market in anticipation of tighter monetary policy by the US Fed and worries over a slowdown in global economic activity. The current risk reward is not favouring investors as the Nifty50 is now trading at a premium valuation of 21.5x P/E (1-year forward basis), above the long-term average. Rising dollar index and higher US 10-year bond yield act as the near-term headwinds for the market."

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs1,110.90 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge fell by 1.80 per cent and the smallcap index declined 1.17 per cent. All the BSE sectoral indices ended lower, with metal falling 2.69 per cent, followed by realty (2.47 per cent), basic materials (2.44 per cent), consumer discretionary goods & services (2.01 per cent), finance (1.88 per cent) and bank (1.88 per cent).

Barring ITC and Nestle India, all Sensex components posted losses. Tata Steel was the top laggard, skidding 4.50 per cent, followed by Asian Paints, Wipro, Sun Pharma, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finance, UltraTech Cement and Bajaj Finserv.