Indian stocks settle low for third straight day; Covid concern weighs

New Delhi: Indian stock indices settled lower on Thursday, extending losses for the third straight session over concerns of a possible resurgence of Covid cases in several countries.

Sensex closed at 60,826.22 points, down 241.02 points or 0.39 per cent, whereas Nifty closed at 18,127.35 points, down 71.75 points or 0.39 per cent. Among the Nifty 50 stocks, UPL, Mahindra and Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Eicher Motors, and Indusind Bank were the top five losers, whereas Sun Pharma, SBI Life, Ultratech Cement, Grasim Industries, and Asian Paints were the top five gainers, National Stock Exchange data showed.

"Indian Benchmark indices made a positive start today amid strong global market cues. Indices gained momentum following overnight gains on Wall Street. But, the euphoria soon faded away an investors remained cautious of rising covid cased in China, Japan, Korea and Brazil," said Mohit Nigam, Fund Manager and Head - PMS, Hem Securities.

Positive sentiments from the global markets failed to bolster optimism in the domestic indices and losses were extended in domestic equities owing to the hawkish comments from the RBI's MPC minutes, which suggested that a premature pause in rate tightening would be a "costly policy error at this juncture", said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level virtual meeting today to review the Covid-19 situation and its related aspects in the county. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Health Miniter Mansukh Mandaviya and NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer Parameswaran Iyer were among others who participated in the meeting.

In the last six months, India reported four cases of the BF.7 Omicron sub-variant, which is driving China's current surge of infections.