Sensex Loses Over 500 Points, Nifty Slips Below 15,800; Financials Weak

Asian shares slipped again on Monday while perceived safe haven assets, including the yen and gold, edged higher as investor risk appetite was soured by fears of rising inflation and a relentless surge in coronavirus cases

The domestic stock markets have lost more than 1 per cent at opening bell in line with negative global cues.  At 9:20 am, the BSE Sensex was trading at 52,630.05, lower by 509 points or 0.9 per cent and the NSE Nifty was 15,783.90, down 139.50 points or 0.88 per cent. The broader markets were outperforming the largecap peers, with the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices shedding around half a per cent each.  All the sectoral indices are trading in the red, with banks and financials doing the most damage. Asian shares slipped again on Monday while perceived safe haven assets, including the yen and gold, edged higher as investor risk appetite was soured by fears of rising inflation and a relentless surge in coronavirus cases. Japan's Nikkei dropped 1.3 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI was 1 per cent lower and New Zealand's shares were off 0.4 per cent. Wall Street ended lower on Friday, weighed down by declines in Amazon, Apple and other heavyweight technology stocks, while investors worried about a rise in coronavirus cases tied to the highly contagious Delta variant. The Dow Jones fell 0.86 per cent, while the S&P 500 lost 0.75 per cent and Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.8 per cent.