INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Indian equity benchmarks resumed decline after a day's breather in the previous session on Friday as fears about the Omicron variant of
the coronavirus, inflation concerns and hawkish tone by the world's major central banks knocked investor confidence globally
The Sensex dived as much as 950 points to trade below 57,000 mark and Nifty 50 index tumbled below its important psychological level of
17,000.The Sensex fell 889 points to close at 57,012 and Nifty 50 index dropped 263 points to close at 16,985.The Bank of England on
Thursday became the world's first major central bank to raise interest rates since the pandemic hammered the global economy, and warned of
higher inflation after the US Federal Reserve signalled that raging inflation was its biggest risk.European stocks dropped, Asian shares
closed near the year's lows and Wall Street looked set to open weaker after a bruising previous session that was led by sharp falls in tech
stocks.The pan-European EUROSTOXX was down 0.48 per cent
Germany's DAX dropped 0.48 per cent, although Britain's FTSE 100 bucked the trend with a 0.1 per cent rise
Wall Street futures were in the red.Meanwhile, fears over the spread of Omicron variant of Coronavirus also kept risk appetite under check
Ten new Omicron cases were logged in Delhi a day after the city saw the sharpest daily spike in coronavirus cases in nearly four months with
Across India, over 90 cases of the new variant have been registered so far.Selling pressure was broad-based as all the 15 sector gauges,
barring the gauge of information technology shares, ended with massive cuts
Nifty Media and Realty indices were top sectoral losers, down over 4 per cent each
Nifty Bank, Auto, Financial Services, FMCG, Metal, Private Bank and PSU Bank, Consumer Durables and Oil - Gas indexes also fell between
2-3.65 per cent.Mid- and small-cap shares also faced selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices dropped over 2 per
cent each.IndusInd Bank was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 4.61 per cent to close at Rs 885
Tata Motors, ONGC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Titan, Grasim Industries, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC, Adani Ports and Cipla also fell
between 3-4.4 per cent.On the flipside, Wipro, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Power Grid and Sun Pharma were among the notable gainers.The
overall market breadth was negative as 2,285 shares ended lower while 1,054 closed higher on the BSE.
