RVNL, RITES, SAIL decline up to 8% in weak market; BSE PSU index slips 3%

PSU stocks were under pressure amid wider weakness in the market, with the BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 declining nearly 1% each

Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL), RITES, SJVN, among several other public sector companies, declined up to 8 per cent in intra-day trade on Monday, October 7. The segment's market, the BSE PSU index was down 3.3 per cent at the time.

At around 2 PM, RVNL stock was down over 7 per cent, while shares of RITES, SJVN, and The New India Assurance Company slipped 6 per cent each. Simultaneously, KIOCL, MRPL, Hindustan Copper, GMDC, Engineers India, HUDCO, IRCON, Bharat Dynamics, ITI, RCF, and Indian Overseas Bank shares were each down over 5 per cent at the time.

Likewise, General Insurance Corporation, MMTC, PFC, Cochin Shipyard, IRFC, REC, UCO Bank, SAIL, NCL India, and NTPC shares were down over 4 per cent each, while Oil India and Central Bank were down over 3 per cent each. On the flipside, NBCC shares were up over 2 per cent today.

According to independent market analyst, Ambareesh Baliga, railway stocks were too overvalued. "So, in a weak market, they would naturally fall," he said.

The benchmark index BSE Sensex was also down 0.86 per cent at 80,991.13 at around the same time. After starting Monday's trading session in positive territory, Indian benchmark equity indices slipped into negative territory. The BSE Sensex fell over 962 points, to record an intraday low of 80,726.06.

Similarly, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty 50 fell 320 points to touch the day's low at 24,694.35. Among the reasons for the decline in the frontline indices were Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) selling Rs 9,896.95 crore worth of equities in the Indian markets on Friday (October 4), apart from the intensifying war between Iran and Israel, and a steep fall in the broader markets, along with a shift by investors towards the Chinese markets as valuations there seemed cheaper than in India.

"The Indian market has been following a different path with the Nifty 50 declining 4.5 per cent in a week. This sharp correction has been mainly triggered by the massive FII selling in the cash market, which reached Rs 40,509 crore during the last four days," said Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Dr Vijayakumar added that leading large-caps like Reliance Industries (RIL), HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank, which are among major holdings in FII portfolios, bore the brunt of their selling onslaught. READ MORE

Meanwhile, Asian peers rallied in trade today, with Japan’s Nikkei rising 1.80 per cent, and the broad-based Topix gaining 1.68 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi also jumped by 1.58 per cent, while Australia’s ASX/200 was up 0.68 per cent.