Sensex cracks 372 points to close at 37,091, Nifty also slumps by 131 points

Domestic equity benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty started on a choppy note on Monday and ended 372 points down at 37,091. The broader NSE Nifty was also trading 7.85 points in the early session and settled at 11,148.20 after dropping 130.70 points. 

In the previous session on Friday, the BSE bourse closed 95.92 points, or 0.26 per cent, down at 37,462.99; and the Nifty shed 22.90 points, or 0.20 per cent, to settle at 11,278.90.

The index widened its loss towards the fag-end on emergence of intense selling in heavyweights like ITC, RIL and ICICI Bank.In percentage terms, however, Sun Pharma was the biggest loser with 9.39 per cent drop. Intra-day, the pharma major's shares tanked over 20 per cent.Other top Sensex laggards were Yes Bank, Tata Steel and Indusind Bank -- falling as much as 5.58 per cent. 

Trump on Friday imposed a hefty duty on import of Chinese products from 10 per cent to 25 per cent worth more than USD 200 billion and asking for a similar increase on tariff on the rest of the Chinese import of over USD 300 billion.

Shares of ITC too dropped 2.64 per cent. The company, meanwhile, announced elevation of its MD Sanjiv Puri as the Chairman and Managing Director. It also reported an 18.72 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 3,481.9 crore.

Among the gainers on the Sensex, HDFC topped the chart, rising 1.06 per cent, after the mortgage lender posted a 26.8 per cent rise in its standalone net profit at Rs 2,862 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2019.

According to Hemang Jani, Head - Advisory, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas, as we move closer towards the election results day (May 23), one can expect the volatility in the market to only increase further. 2019 general election continues to be an important near term event for the market.

Meanwhile, on the currency front,  rupee depreciated 19 paise to 70.11 against the US dollar. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were trading 0.30 per cent higher at USD 70.83 per barrel.

(With inputs from PTI)