Sensex cracks by 871 points on Covid worries, banking and financials hit

Equity benchmark indices fell sharply on Monday as a record jump in Covid-19 cases led to lockdown-like restrictions in economically important state of Maharashtra.

That spooked investors sentiment as these restrictions can impact growth recovery. A weak PMI manufacturing print for March also elevated concerns on the growth front.

The BSE S&P Sensex closed 871 points or 1.74 per cent lower at 49,159 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 230 points or 1.54 per cent to 14,638.

Except for Nifty IT which jumped by 1.9 per cent and metal which gained marginally, all other sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty PSU bank down by 4.1 per cent, private bank by 3.4 per cent, financial service by 3.2 per cent each auto by 2.6 per cent.

Among stocks, IndusInd Bank lost by 5.7 per cent to Rs 938.25 per share while Axis Bank was down by 3.6 per cent and ICICI Bank by 3.7 per cent.

State Bank of India fell by 4.5 per cent to close at Rs 354 per share. Bajaj Finance slipped by 5.7 per cent, Bajaj Finserv by 3.4 per cent and home loan lender HDFC by 3.3 per cent to Rs 2,448 per unit.

The others which lost were Eicher Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj Auto.

However, IT software major HCL Technologies was up by 3.2 per cent, Tata Consultancy Services by 2.4 per cent, Wipro by 2.2 per cent and Infosys by 2.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, Asian stock prices rose to a one-and-a-half month high after data showing a surge in US employment while US bonds came under pressure on worries the Federal Reserve may bump up interest rates sooner than it has indicated.

Japan's Nikkei rose by 0.79 per cent while MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was almost flat.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up by 1.97 per cent and South Korea's Kospi inched up by 0.26 per cent.

The US labour department said on Friday that non-farm payrolls surged by 916,000 jobs last month, the biggest gain since last August.

( With inputs from ANI )