On 20th December, the stock markets crashed as Omicron Covid-19 cases continued to increase.
The Indian equity benchmarks crashed with the 30-share Sensex falling over 1,800 points or 3.2 percent and Nifty 50 index breaking below its important psychological level of 16,450.
Omicron makes Investors wary
As days pass by, the spread of the Omicron variant of Coronavirus is increasing investors’ feelings. Analysts say Omicron has raised fears of stagnation.
It has also stoked fears of stagflation, analysts said. Stagflation is a scenario of rising inflation and stagnant or declining economic growth. Which is happening possibly due to the spread of Omicron and expectations of lockdowns again.
As of 2:21 p.m., the Sensex was down 1,371 points, or 2.4 percent, at 55,641, and the Nifty 50 was down 432 points, or 2.54 percent, at 16,553.
Markets crashed due to increasing Omicron cases
As Omicron Covid-19 cases continued to rise Asian stock markets crashed and oil prices fell as Europe imposes tougher sanctions and threatened to flood the world economy in the new year.
Beijing, on the other hand, lowered its temper by cutting one-year loan rates for the freezing time by 20 months.
Chinese blue chips are still down 0.4 percent, while the MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan is down 0.8 percent. Japan’s Nikkei was down 1.7 percent and South Korea’s was down 1.2 percent.
The S&P 500 futures are down 0.8 percent and the Nasdaq futures are down about 1 percent. EURO STOXX 50 futures lost 1.1 percent and FTSE futures lost 1.0 percent
Back home, selling pressure was visible across all sectors as 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange traded lower, leading to a 3 percent fall in the Nifty Metal Index.
Nifty Bank, Auto, Financial Services, FMCG, IT, PSU Bank, Private Bank, Realty and Consumer Durables also fell by 1.5-2.85 per cent.
As Nifty Midcap 100 index declined 2.76 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index by nearly 3 per cent Mid- and small-cap shares were also seen facing selling pressure.
Forty eight shares in the Nifty 50 basket were trading lower led by Bajaj Finance’s 4 per cent fall. JSW Steel, Tata Steel, State Bank of India, Bharat Petroleum, Tata Motors, ONGC, HDFC Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, Hindalco and Bajaj Finserv also fell between 2.5-3.6 per cent, as per sources.
However, Cipla and Sun Pharma, were among the notable recipients.
Furthermore, the overall market breadth was extremely stagnant as 2,389 stocks declined and 568 advanced on the BSE.
The fear of Omicron loomed as the Netherlands went into lockdown and pressured others to follow, although the United States appeared to be open.
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