Markets close with steep losses; Sensex slipped 486 points & Nifty ends below 15,750 mark

Equity benchmarks ended near the day's low with steep losses on Thursday, June 8, 2021. The S&P BSE Sensex skidded 485.82 points or 0.92 per cent to 52,568.94. The Nifty 50 index slipped 151.75 points or 0.96 per cent to end at 15,727.90. The Nifty Bank index closed 497.20 points or 1.39 per cent lower at 35,274.10.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap slipped 0.37 per cent and BSE SmallCap slipped 0.09 per cent.

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 1,474 shares rose and 1,715 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index at NSE, seven shares rose and 43 shares declined. The top five shares that advanced on Nifty were Tech Mahindra (up 1.39 per cent), SBI Life (up 0.89 per cent) Eicher Motors (up 0.78 per cent), Bajaj Auto (up 0.61 per cent) and HCL Technologies (0.11 per cent). The top five losers were Tata Motors (down 3.45 per cent), JSW Steel (down 3.13 per cent), Hindalco (down 2.74 per cent), Tata Steel (down 2.35 per cent) and ONGC (down 2.34 per cent).

COVID-19 Update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 18,50,78,882 with 40,01,791 deaths. India reported 4,60,704 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 4,05,028 deaths while 2,98,43,825 patients have been discharged, data showed.

India's Growth Forecast

Fitch Ratings, on Wednesday, cut India's growth forecast to 10 per cent for the current fiscal, from 12.8 per cent estimated earlier, due to slowing recovery post-second wave of COVID-19, and said rapid vaccination could support a sustainable revival in business and consumer confidence. In a report, the global rating agency said the challenges for the banking sector posed by the Coronavirus pandemic have increased due to a virulent second wave in the first quarter of FY22.

"Fitch Ratings revised down India's real GDP for FY22 by 280 bps to 10 per cent, underlining our belief that renewed restrictions have slowed recovery efforts and left banks with a moderately worse outlook for business and revenue generation in FY22," it said.

US Federal Reserve's minutes

The US Federal Reserve's minutes from its June 15-16 meeting, during which it held short-term interest rates near zero but also indicated that it may be adjusting policy otherwise in the months ahead, revealed the central bank discussed tapering but was in no rush to start the process.