Most global markets opened the first day of trading in 2019 extremely weak, as Chinese data showed growth slowing.

The Sensex followed other global markets lower, with the benchmark dropping a huge 470 points in trade. The Nifty too was down a staggering 153 points. From Asia to Europe sentiments were extremely weak, with the Hang Sang leading the fall with a drop of 3 per cent. The German DAX and the French CAC too were down more than 1 per cent, while S&P Futures indicated a cut of 1 per cent.

Shares of auto companies were the hardest hit in trade, following sales volume declared for the month of December 2018. Eicher Motors, Hero MotoCorp and M&M, declined around 2% to 6% over weakish December numbers.

Metal stocks melted following data from China, which raised worries on metal demand from the country. Vedanta and Tata Steel both shed as much as 4 per cent in trade.

Software stocks were the only stocks from the Nifty that managed to hold ground from the Nifty. Infosys and TCS were trading with marginal gains, following a weakish rupee.

Jet Airways slumped as much as 5 per cent on reports of a debt default. The stock was last trading at Rs 265.

Shares in oil marketing companies like HPCL, BPCL and Indian Oil saw sharp declines on reports that these companies were most likely to report losses in the Dec quarter.

The rupee meanwhile fell against the U.S. dollar and was down 0.8 percent or 55 paise to 69.98 against the greenback. Crude oil too dropped almost one per cent in trade.

GoodReturns.in