Sensex erases morning gains; Airtel falls by nearly 6 per cent

Domestic benchmark indices ended the day in a negative territory as Sensex closed at the level of 30,609.30, falling by 63.29 points, which is 0.21 per cent lower than its previous close. Nifty declined by 10.20 points or 0.11 per cent to settle at 9,029.05 levels.

Globally, as businesses resumed operations along with airline and hotel industry being back on track, European indices such as FTSE 100, CAC 40 and DAX opened in green up by 1.10 per cent, 1.09 per cent and 0.65 per cent, respectively. Despite the ongoing US-China tensions, Shanghai index gained by 1.01 per cent, being lifted by gains in consumer companies. As traders looked past political risks grasping Hong Kong and focus on the prospects of economic recovery in Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose by 1.88 per cent while, Nikkei index gained by 2.55 per cent on Japanese government’s decision to end emergency measure, which was put into action due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Sensex was mainly dragged down by IT stocks and Bharti Airtel after the telecom services provider declined by 5.71 per cent to close at Rs 559.15 per share on BSE after its promoter, Bharti Telecom reportedly sold 2.75 per cent stake in the telecom services provider through open market deals today. Other decliners included-TCS declining by 3.74 per cent, Bajaj Finance fell by 3.48 per cent, Tech Mahindra fell by 1.83 per cent, Infosys dropped by 1.75 per cent, Hero MotoCorp declined by 1.71 per cent, HCL Technologies fell by 1.17 per cent, etc.

Sensex gainers included Titan Company gaining by 5.14 per cent, Ultratech Cement gained by 3.64 per cent, IndusInd Bank increased by 2.96 per cent, Nestle increased by 2.85 per cent, ITC closed in green, up by 2.76 per cent, NTPC gained by 2.37 per cent, Tata Steel increased by 2.20 per cent, etc.

Amongst sectoral indices on BSE, Telecom index was the biggest loser, declining by 4.64 per cent, followed by indices such as TECK and Information Technology falling by 2.57 per cent and 2.10 per cent, respectively. Metal index gained by 2.84 per cent thus, being the highest sectoral index gainer on BSE.