Sensex, Nifty Settle Lower For 4th Straight Day

(RTTNews) - Indian shares tumbled on Monday, falling for a fourth successive session, as rising bond yields, geopolitical tensions, inflation concerns and the outlook for interest rates continued to hurt investor sentiment and triggered heavy selling at several counters.

Friday's weak close on Wall Street, and the weakness in Asian and European markets today rendered the mood in the Indian market quite bearish.

Investors reacted to a slew of corporate earnings updates, in addition to tracking the trend in commodity and currency markets.

The BSE benchmark Sensex ended down 825.74 points or 1.26% at 64,571.88. The broader Nifty50 index of the National Stock Exchange settled with a loss of 260.90 points or 1.34% at 19,281.75.

In economic news, data from the Reserve Bank of India showed India's forex reserves rose by $1.15 billion to $585.89 billion for the week ended October 13.

Among Sensex stocks, only Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.35%) and Bajaj Finance (up marginally), managed to close in positive territory.

JSW Steel ended lower by about 3%. Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Wipro and HCL Technologies lost 2.2 to 2.6%. NTPC, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank, Power Grid Corporation, Axis Bank and Reliance Industries declined 1.5 to 2%.

Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Titan, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank and Asian Paints lost 1 to 1.4%.

Kotak Bank ended lower by 1.7% despite reporting 24% year-on-year increase in the net profit in the second quarter ended September 2023.

ICICI Bank edged down marginally. The bank reported standalone profit of Rs 10,261 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2023, a 35.7% jump compared to the profit in the year-ago quarter. The bank's gross non-performing assets declined to 2.48% of gross advances at the end of the September quarter from 2.76% a year ago. Its net NPAs or bad loans declined to 0.43% against 0.61% in the year-ago period.

Adani Enterprises, down 3.7%, was the biggest loser in the Nifty50 index. Hindalco, Adani Ports, UPL, HDFC Life, Coal India and Grasim Industries ended lower by 2 to 3.1%.

In the Nifty50 too, only Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj Finance made it to positive territory today.

Yes Bank shares ended nearly 6% down. The bank reported a 47% year-on-year increase in profit before tax at Rs 225 crore for the quarter ended September 2023.

The market breadth was very weak. On BSE, 3,196 stocks closed weak. 638 stocks ended higher, while 156 stocks closed flat.