Indian stocks closed lower on Monday, dragged down by banking and metals stocks, as a surge in coronavirus cases at home and abroad hurt investor sentiment.
The broader NSE Nifty 50 Index fell 2.19% to 11,252.6 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex Index fell 2.02% each to 38,990.76. Both indices fell sharply around 1400 local time (0830 GMT) after the opening of the European markets.
Global markets fell as some European countries such as Denmark, Greece and Spain imposed new restrictions on activity due to the increase in Covid-19 cases, which threatened to halt the recovery.
The MSCI World Stock Index, which tracks stocks in 49 countries, was down 0.5% at 0748 GMT.
Indian stocks, which were trading little changed Monday morning, began to slide once European markets opened due to pessimistic sentiment from the re-imposition of Covid-19 restrictions, said Ajit Mishra, vice president of Religare Broking.
Coronavirus cases in India reached 5.49 million on Monday morning, according to government data https://www.mohfw.gov.in, a count second only to the United States.
The pandemic prompted Asia’s third-largest economy to report its deepest quarterly contraction in decades last month as the government seeks to ease restrictions on economic activity to resume.
“Sectors like manufacturing and logistics still face challenges and that is greatly impacting sentiment,” said Mishra.
The Nifty banking index, which tracks both state lenders and the private sector, fell for the third straight session, down as much as 3%.
The Nifty Metals Index fell 5.5%. Miner Hindalco fell as much as 9% and was the Nifty’s highest percentage of losers.
Kotak Mahindra Bank earned the most, closing 0.84% higher.
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