Covid Back To Haunt Markets, Sensex Slumps 540 Points

Benchmark indices slumped sharply in trade, as rising Covid cases from the US and Europe came back to haunt global markets. Dow Jones Futures pointed to cuts of nearly 1 per cent, while Europe was down more than 2 per cent in trade.

The US saw a record 83,000 new infections on both Friday and Saturday, while in Europe, France reported a record daily rise in new infections and Italy ordered bars to close early with Spain issuing a nationwide curfew to prevent a worsening outbreak.

The Sensex ended the day lower by 540 points, while the Nifty dropped 162 points in trade. Among the big losers was Reliance Industries, which was a big drag on the indices falling almost 4 per cent in trade after after Amazon on Sunday won an interim award against its partner Future Group selling retail business to Reliance Industries Ltd for Rs 24,713 crore after a Singapore-based single-judge arbitration panel put the deal on hold.

IndusInd Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the gainers after reports of a takeover of IndusInd Bank by Kotak Mahindra Bank. However, IndusInd Bank has flatly denied the takeover and dubbed the news as "malicious".

Banking stocks came in for some selling pressure with ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank both among the losers. HDFC Life, Nestle and Larsen.