After a gap-down opening, the Indian market continued to remain under pressure on August 20, with the Sensex falling over 400 points and Nifty below 16,450 in the morning trade.
At the time of writing this report, the Sensex was down 363.08 points, or 0.65 percent, at 55266.41, and the Nifty was trading 141.60 points, or 0.85 percent, lower at 16,427.20. The broader markets were hit harder, with BSE mid and smallcap indices down more than a percent each.
All sectoral indices barring BSE FMCG were in the red. BSE Metals was the top loser, down 5.43 percent, with all major names trading sharply lower. NMDC, Vedanta, JSW Steel and Tata Steel were the worst hit, falling more than 6 percent each.
Other losers included Hindalco, SAIL, National Aluminum Company, Hindustan Zinc, down fell 3-5 percent.
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“The recent outbreaks of the Delta variants and severe flooding in China threatened to slow its recovery which clouded the demand outlook for industrial metals,” said Yash Sawant, Research Associate, Angel Broking.
He further said, “That, coupled with falling loan growth in China continued to hamper market sentiments. In July’21, China’s new bank loans fell more than expected while broad credit growth plunged to a 17-month low which raised expectation of some policy easing to support the country’s economic recovery.”
However, “US FED officials hinting towards tapering of the expansionary policy amid widening impact of the pandemic overshadowed the possibilities of policy easing by China and continued to push prices lower,” he added.
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