Sensex dips 218 pts as WPI rises to 5.77%; Tata Steel down 7%

New Delhi :The Sensex and Nifty fell on Monday, dented by losses in energy, realty and healthcare stocks, with subdued Asian peers and rising inflation dampening sentiment further, while technology stocks gained with Infosys hitting an all-time high on upbeat quarterly results.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 36,324, down 218 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,937, down 82 points.
Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Pharma index ended 4 per cent lower led by a fall in the shares of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries. The Nifty Metal index too has fallen over 3.5 per cent lower led by fall in Jindal Stainless (Hisar) and Tata Steel.
Energy shares took a beating after crude prices dropped as concerns around supply disruptions eased, while traders eyed potential supply hikes by Russia and other oil producers. Reliance Industries slipped nearly 2% per cent, while Hindustan Petroleum Corp declined pver 2 per cent.
Among individual stocks, information technology (IT) major Infosys hit a new high of Rs 1,384 in intra-day, surging 6 per cent on the BSE, in an otherwise subdued market after the company reported an in-line performance for the first quarter ended June 2018 (Q1FY19) and its board approved the issuance of one free share for every share held (that is a 1:1 bonus issue). The company announced its Q1FY19 results on Friday after the market hours. The stock ended nearly 2% higher
Inflation based on wholesale prices shot up to 5.77 per cent in June on increasing prices of vegetables and fuel items. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation stood at 4.43 per cent in May and 0.90 per cent in June last year.
According to the government data released today, inflation in food articles stood at 1.80 per cent in June 2018, as against 1.60 per cent in the preceding month. Inflation in vegetables jumped to 8.12 per cent in June, from 2.51 per cent in the previous month.
Asian shares declined after official data showed China’s economy slowed slightly in the second quarter, compounded by fears of a full-scale Sino-US trade war looming over markets.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.43 per cent.
The Shanghai Composite Index and the blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.5 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down less than 0.1 per cent and Seoul’s Kospi lost 0.1 per cent. Japan’s markets are closed for a holiday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)