After reaching an all-time high, the Sensex plummets 931 points, and the Nifty ends up at 21,150: the main causes of the decline.

Benchmarks for Indian equities fell hard on Wednesday after reaching sensex new all-time high. While the larger NSE Nifty index moved nearly 303 points, or 1.41 percent, to end at 21,150 level, the 30-share BSE Sensex pack fell 931 points, or 1.30 percent, to settle at 70,506 levels. A spike in Covid-19 cases in the nation and increased profit booking at higher levels may be the causes of the correction in domestic benchmarks.

Earlier in the day, Nifty reached a new record high of 21,593 and Sensex surged 476 points to reach an all-time high of 71,913. A fag-end sell-off coincided with the stock indexes’ dramatic decline.

The decline in the domestic bourses was so great that the market capitalization (m-cap) of the BSE was wiped out, approximately Rs 9 lakh crore. According to the BSE m-cap, investor wealth decreased by Rs 9.11 lakh crore to Rs 350.01 lakh crore from the previous session’s valuation of Rs 359.11 lakh crore.

Bank, metal & auto stocks tank 

The NSE-compiled 15 sector gauges all closed in the red. Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Metal, and Nifty Auto sub-indices all underperformed the NSE platform, declining by as much as 4.04%, 3.82%, and 2.28 percent, in that order.

Rise in Covid-19 cases

According to data from the Union Health Ministry, there has been a surge in Covid-19 cases in India. In the last 24 hours, 614 new infections have been reported, which is the highest number since May 21. The Covid subvariant JN.1, which was initially discovered in Kerala, is the cause of the recent increase in cases.

Prior to this, Karnataka mandated the mandatory use of face masks for individuals over 60 who had comorbidities, fever, coughing, or phlegm symptoms, following the discovery of a case of the Covid subvariant in nearby Kerala.