Stock market updates: Equity indices declined in the fag-end of the session on Monday, even as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced relief measures for an economy, battered by a second wave of Covid-19, and which is bracing for a possible third wave.
Among notable steps, FM Sitharaman announced Rs 1.1-trillion loan guarantee for Covid-affected sectors. Health sector, she said, will receive attention for scaling up infrastructure on cities and towns other than the eight metros.
That apart, she announced an additional Rs 1.5 trillion for Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme, launched as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat package
After hitting a lifetime high of 53,126 in the morning deals, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex slipped into the red to end at 52,735 levels, down 189 points or 0.36 per cent. The broader Nifty50, on the other hand, closed at 15,815 levels, down 46 points or 0.29 per cent. The index scaled new peak of 15,915.6 earlier today.
The broader market, on the contrary, resumed their uptrend and outperformed the headline indices. The BSE MidCap index ended at 22,639 levels, up 0.40 per cent while the BSE SmallCap index shut shop at 25,111, up 0.46 per cent.
Individually, shares of Thyrocare Technologies tumbled 11.5 per cent to hit a low of Rs 1,281 apiece after nearly 3.74 lakh shares changed hands on the BSE by 3:15 PM. Docon Technologies, along with API Holdings, the parent company of unicorn PharmEasy, an online medical platform, had said on Friday that it will acquire 66.1 per cent equity stake in diagnostic chain firm for Rs 4,546 crore. They also made an open offer for acquisition of additional 26 per cent stake in Thyrocare at a price of Rs 1,300 per share for Rs 1,788.16 crore.
Meanwhile, newly listed Dodla Dairy closed at Rs 609 apiece, after debuting at Rs 550, a 28 per cent premium over its initial public offer (IPO) issue price of Rs 428 per share on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). KIMS, on the other hand, ended at Rs 987.5 after listing at Rs 1,009, up 22 per cent against its issue price of Rs 825 per share on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
Global markets
European travel stocks sank 2% on Monday on the back of a spike in COVID-19 cases across Asia, while worries of a sudden tapering in ultra-loose global monetary policy in the wake of rising inflation pushed pan-European STOXX 600 down 0.2 per cent.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei was down 0.06 per cent and South Korea's Kospi eased 0.03 per cent.
(With inputs from Reuters)