Sensex, Nifty Extending Losses As Stocks Lose Ground Again

After an initial sharp fall, the Indian stock market staged a smart recovery Monday morning, but eased again due to lack of support at higher levels.

A sell-off in banking, capital goods, power and healthcare stocks pushed the market down sharply at the open.

The mood remains cautious amid worries about a surge in coronavirus cases and tensions between India and China.

According to data released by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India's total count of confirmed coronavirus cases rose to over 4.2 million cases, going up by nearly 92,000 cases on Monday.

Activity is mostly stock specific with quarterly earnings reports and other corporate news setting the trend.

The benchmark BSE Sensex, which plunged nearly 300 points in early trades to 38,060.74, ralllied past 38,310 subsequently, but faltered again. At 38,249.26, the Sensex is currently down 107.92 points or 0.28%.

The broader Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange is down 41.75 points or 0.37% at 11,292.10, coming off an early low of 11,251.70.

On Friday, the Sensex and the Nifty plunged 1.63% and 1.68%, respectively.

Mahindra & Mahindra, down 3.2%, is the biggest loser in the Sensex. ONGC, UltraTech Cement, NTPC, HCL Technologies and ITC are down 1.2 to 2%, while Bajaj Auto, Tech Mahindra and Larsen & Toubro are down nearly 1%.

Bharti Airtel is lower by nearly 2%. The telecom major announced the launch of its new Airtel Xstream Bundle that combines the power of Airtel Xstream Fiber with speeds upto 1 Gbps, unlimited data, Airtel Xstream Android 4k TV Box and access to all OTT content.

Axis Bank is rising nearly 2%. Maruti Suzuki is up by about 1%, while HDFC and ICICI Bank are both higher by about 0.5%.

UPL is down by about 2.8%. GAIL India, Cipla, Wipro, Shree Cement and Indian Oil Corporation are also notably lower.

Bharti Infratel is gaining 3.5%. Tata Motors and Hindalco are up with modest gains.

Shares of Jubilant Industries are up sharply, lifted by news that the company's board has approved sale of the land and building of the manufacturing unit at Village Nimbut, in Pune for a consideration of Rs 12.35 crore, and the plant and machinery for a consideration of Rs 95 lakh to Jubilant Life Sciences.

Jubilant Life Sciences Limited shares are down more than 5% on weak results. The company reported a net profit of Rs 88.01 crore for the first quarter of this financial year, a sharp drop from profit of Rs 185 crore a year ago.

Nalco reported a net profit of Rs 16.7 crore for the quarter ended June 2020, compared with Rs 98 crore in the year-ago quarter. Revenue dropped to Rs 1,380.6 crore in the quarter from Rs 2,084.1 crore last year. The stock is down by about 1.2%.