Shares fell by about 2 percent in the stock market today
Indian stocks closed nearly 2 per cent lower on Monday, hurt by selling in information technology (IT) stocks, as rising cases of the Omicron coronavirus pandemic shook investors ahead of the central bank’s decision on interest rates.
Blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index slipped below the 17,000-mark and was down 1.65 per cent at 16,912.25, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex ended 1.65 per cent lower at 56,742.35. Both the indices posted their lowest levels since August 27.
Most of the key sub-indices ended lower, with IT, auto and pharma stocks falling the most, as the number of cases of the heavily mutated Omicron coronavirus cases rose to 12 on Sunday.
Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services, said, “The ambiguity around Omicron ahead of the crucial policy announcement by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday continued to dampen the morale of domestic investors.”
“The domestic market is expected to remain volatile as the near future will continue to dominate the development of new editions and policy decisions.”
The three-day Monetary Policy Committee meeting of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) begins on Monday and investors will keep an eye on the central bank’s comments on future rate hikes.
According to a Reuters poll of economists, the RBI will keep rates at its December meeting and increase its reverse repo rate early next year and increase the repo rate in the next quarter.
The Nifty IT index which is up around 44% for the year, fell nearly 3% and had its worst day in almost two months.
Index heavyweights Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Ltd fell 2.9% and 2.3%, respectively.
The Nifty Realty index closed early gains lower by 1.4%, while the Nifty Auto index slipped 1.8 per cent.
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