Sensex plunges 832 points, Nifty at 9,000; Infosys falls

Indian equity benchmark indices opened in the red on Tuesday (April 21) with the BSE Sensex plunging 832.68 points or 2.63% at 30815.32, and the Nifty falling 235.75 points or 2.55% at 9026.10. About 326 shares advanced, 605 shares declined, and 31 shares remained unchanged. The shares of IT major Infosys went down around 2%.

Benchmark indices traded in the negative in the pre-opening session with the Sensex falling 578.70 points or 1.83% at 31069.30, and the Nifty down 277.10 points or 2.99% at 8984.75.

Oil prices rebounded on Tuesday, with US crude turning positive after falling below $0 for the first time in history but the gains were still capped amid concerns how the market will cope up with the massive fall in demand of oil prices due to coronavirus pandemic.

On Monday, equity benchmark indices ended on the higher note for the third consecutive day, with the Sensex up 59.28 points or 0.19% at 31648.00, while the Nifty ended 4.90 points down or 0.05% at 9261.85. Major gainers on the Nifty were Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Infosys, and Sun Pharma, while top losers included Hindalco, JSW Steel, Axis Bank, and Bharti Infratel.

HDFC Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying nearly 4 per cent, after the lender posted a 15.4 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 7,280.22 crore for the March quarter on healthy interest income. Infosys jumped over 3 per cent ahead of its quarterly earnings, scheduled to be announced later in the day.

Sun Pharma, NTPC, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, HDFC, RIL, and TCS also closed with gains. On the other hand, Axis Bank was the worst loser, followed by ITC, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Maruti Suzuki.