Sensex Dives Over 1000 Points, Nifty Slips Below 14,300 Amid Covid Spike

Asian shares hovered near 1-1/2 week highs on Monday helped by expectations that monetary policy will remain accommodative the world over

The domestic stock markets have crashed by more than 2 per cent in early trading, ignoring the positive cues from the global bourses, as the second wave of Covid 19 continued to batter the country.  At 9:20 am, the Sensex was trading at 47,778.75, weaker by 1053.55 points or 2.16 per cent and the NSE Nifty was at 14,285.50, down 332.45 points or 2.16 per cent. Financial and auto stocks received most of the hammering, with the BSE financial and auto indices losing 4.7 per cent and 3.6 per cent respectively. The broader markets were also under intense selling pressure, with the BSE Midcap index and BSE Smallcap index shedding around 2.8 per cent each.  On Monday, India reported its tenth record daily increase in COVID-19 cases in eleven days and added more than 2 lakh daily cases to the overall tally for the fourth consecutive day. Asian shares hovered near 1-1/2 week highs on Monday helped by expectations that monetary policy will remain accommodative the world over, while COVID-19 vaccine rollouts helped ease fears of another dangerous wave of coronavirus infections.