MUMBAI: The Indian stock market’s benchmark Sensex slumped 638 points on Monday, dragged by last-hour heavy selling in auto, FMCG and banking stocks. The 30-stock S&P BSE Sensex slumped 638.11 points to 56,788.81 points against its previous close at 57,426.92 points.
Earlier, the Sensex started the day marginally down at 57,403.92 points, but witnessed heavy selling pressure in the late morning trade. The Sensex slumped to a low of 56,875.05 points in the morning session. It briefly turned positive in the morning session, rising to a high of 57,454.84 points.
The markets witnessed heavy selling towards the end of the trading session, dragging the Sensex down to 56,683.40 points in the intra-day. The index had gained 1016.96 points on Friday, the previous trading session.
The markets had witnessed a strong rally on Friday after the monetary policy announcement by the RBI. On expected lines, the RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee decided to raise policy repo rate by 50 basis points, or 0.50 per cent, to 5.90 per cent.
The broader Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange slumped 207.00 points to 16,887.35 points against its previous session’s close at 17,094.35 points.
Earlier, the Nifty started the day in the positive at 17,102.10 points and rose to a high of 17,114.65 points in the early morning trade. It fell sharply within an hour of the opening of the trade, slumping to a low of 16,855.55 points in the intra-day. The Nifty had gained 276.25 points or 1.64 per cent on Friday.
Maruti Suzuki slumped by 3.16 per cent to Rs 8,544, Hindustan Unilever dipped 2.77 per cent to Rs 2,622.20 and ITC slumped 2.32 per cent to Rs 324.30.
There was heavy selling pressure in banking and financial stocks. IndusInd Bank slumped 2.55 per cent to Rs 1,156.10, State Bank of India dipped 2.15 per cent to Rs 519.65, Kotak Bank slumped 2.03 per cent to Rs 1,784.35 and ICICI Bank dipped 1.71 per cent to Rs 848.05.
Bajaj Finance, L&T, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys and Asian Paints were among the major Sensex losers. The index heavyweight Reliance Industries Ltd closed 0.14 per cent down at Rs 2,374.30.
Only four of the 30 scrips that are part of the benchmark Sensex closed in the positive. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories jumped 1.99 per cent to Rs 4,420.15. Bharti Airtel, NTPC and Wipro also closed in the positive. (ANI)