Market wrap: Monetary policies, Omicron drag Sensex, Nifty 3% in a week

Top headlines

Sensex, Nifty slide 3% in 1 week as hawkish monetary policies and Omicron concerns weigh

IT stocks dazzle in a weak market on Accenture's stellar earnings show

Govt mulls changes in law to cut govt stake in PSU banks

RBI discusses private cryptocurrencies at its board meeting

Stocks across the board, barring the IT sector, witnessed significant selling pressure on Friday as unwinding of global stimulus packages dented sentiment. That apart, unforeseen threat from the Omicron variant of coronavirus and high inflation kept bulls at bay all through the day.
The BSE Sensex tanked to a low of 56,951, and eventually settled with a loss of 889 points at 57,012. The NSE Nifty50, meanwhile, slumped to a low of 16,966 intra-day, and ended with a loss of 263 points at 16,985. This was the first time since December 6 that the Nifty ended below the 17,000 mark.

Amid persistent FPI selling, a weaker currency, and worries due to fresh restrictions across global economies due to the new Covid-19 variant, the frontline indices declined 3 per cent during the week.

As regards today, index heavyweight Reliance Industries plunged 2.6 per cent, and alone accounted for a fifth of the total loss for the BSE benchmark. That apart, HDFC twins, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank, and HUL were some of the other major draggers.

On the positive side, Infosys surged 3 per cent. It was followed by HCL Technologies, PowerGrid, Sun Pharma and TCS. Shares of information technologies companies were in demand today after global IT consultancy firm Accenture reported strong results for the quarter ended November and also gave a strong FY22 outlook.

The broader indices also finished with deep cuts, with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices falling 2.4 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively. The overall breadth favoured sellers, with more than two stocks declining on the BSE for every advancing share.

Among individual stocks, the shares of Kopran hit their highest level since 1994 after freezing at 5 per cent upper circuit for a second straight day. In the past 21 months, the stock price of the company has zoomed a whopping 1,874 per cent.

On the contrary, RateGain Travel Technologies made a weak debut as the shares listed at Rs 360, a 15 per cent discount to its issue price of Rs 425 per share on the National Stock Exchange. Further, it dropped to a low of Rs 334 intra-day before settling at Rs 337.5.

The weakness in the secondary market, however, failed to deter primary market investors. Till 4:15 PM on day 2 of the offer, the IPO of Surya Life Science was subscribed over 5 times. The retail quota was subscribed 24.5 times and NIIs over 2 times.

HP Adhesives, meanwhile, was subscribed over 20 times on the last day of the offer.

A look at some other top developments of the day:

The central board of the Reserve Bank of India reviewed the current domestic and global economic situation, evolving challenges and remedial measures. The Board also discussed various aspects related to Central Bank Digital Currency and Private Crypto Currencies.

The government is considering changes that would make it easier to lower its stake in state-run banks, reported Bloomberg. The proposals – if approved – would allow the government to gradually lower its holding in state-run lenders to 26% from 51% without diluting its grip on management appointments.