As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 811.68 points or 2.09% at 38,034.14. The Nifty 50 index lost 282.75 points or 2.46% at 11,222.20.

The broader market saw heavy selling. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 3.43% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 3.61%.

Sellers outpaced buyers. On the BSE, 593 shares rose and 2165 shares fell. A total of 180 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 31,028,757 with 960,698 deaths. India reported 10,03,299 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 87,882 deaths while 43,96,399 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

India-China standoff:

In Ladakh Region, India and China are engaging in Commander level Talks for the 6th time at Moldo, in Chinese side of Line of Actual Control. The Core Commanders are sitting across the table after a gap of one and half month to discuss the border situation. This is a significant development as far as the talks between India and China to arrive into certain implementable decisions to restore the peace and tranquility in the region.

Parliament passes two Farm Bills:

Parliament passed two bills aimed at transforming agriculture in the country and raising farmers' incomes. The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 which were passed by Lok Sabha on 17 September 2020, were passed by the Rajya Sabha on 20 September.

The new legislation will create an ecosystem where the farmers and traders will enjoy freedom of choice of sale and purchase of agri-produce. It will also promote barrier-free inter-state and intra-state trade and commerce outside the physical premises of markets notified under State Agricultural Produce Marketing legislations. The farmers will not be charged any cess or levy for sale of their produce and will not have to bear transport costs.

The Bill also proposes an electronic trading in transaction platform for ensuring a seamless trade electronically. In addition to mandis, farmers will get freedom to do trading at farmgate, cold storage, warehouse, processing units, etc. Farmers will be able to engage in direct marketing thereby eliminating intermediaries resulting in full realization of price. Farmers in Punjab, Haryana and several others states have been protesting against the new legislations ever since the bills cleared Lok Sabha earlier last week.

Economy:

India Inc's business sentiment has improved during July-September quarter as the government gradually unlocked the economy and business activity resumed, according to the CII's business outlook survey. The latest CII Business Confidence Index has surged to the level of 50.3 in July-September 2020, bouncing back from its lowest reading of 41 recorded in April-June 2020, the industry chamber said in a statement.

New Listing:

Route Mobile were trading at Rs 648.90 at 15:15 IST on the BSE, a premium of 85.40% over the initial public offer (IPO) price of Rs 350.

The stock was listed at Rs 708, a premium of 102.29% to IPO price of Rs 350 a share. So far the stock hit a high of Rs 735 and low of 625. On the BSE, 17.33 lakh shares were traded on the counter so far. The issue opened for bidding on 9 September 2020 and closed on 11 September 2020. The price band for the IPO was set at Rs 345-350 per share.

The IPO of Route Mobile received bids for 89.23 crore shares as against 1.21 crore shares on offer, as per the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) website data. The issue was subscribed 73.30 times. The non-institutional investors category was subscribed 192.81 times. The qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) category was subscribed 89.76 times. The retail individual investors (RIIs) category was subscribed 12.67 times.

Buzzing Segments:

The Nifty Bank fell 3.36% to 21,290.10 after Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) leaks reportedly said almost all Indian banks could be part of the suspicious transactions.

IndusInd bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, State Bank of India and HDFC Bank fell by 0.82% to 8.67%.

The media reported that between 2010 and 2017, a number of Indian banks (public, private and foreign) helped facilitate transactions red-flagged by the US Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) for suspected money laundering, terrorism, drug dealing and financial fraud. Indian banks reportedly received $482,181,226 from outside the country and transferred from India $406,278,962. These transactions were red flagged to the US authorities.

Bandhan Bank slumped 6.03% to Rs 281.35. The bank reportedly said that its collection efficiency ratio has touched 80% at the end of August, and expected collections to normalise by December. The ratio, which is improving on a "daily basis", is likely to be over 90% in October, it reportedly added.

The Nifty Metal index tumbled 5.15% to 2,240.55, extending decline for third day. The index has lost 6.50% in three sessions.

Jindal Steel & Power (down 13.74%), SAIL (down 7%), Hindalco Industries (down 6.8%), Tata Steel (down 5.99%), JSW Steel (down 5.65%), National Aluminum Co. (down 5.16%), Welspun Corp (down 4.96%), Hindustan Copper (down 4.38%), NMDC (down 4.26%), Mishra Dhatu Nigam (down 3.63%), Hindustan Zinc (down 3.58%), Ratnamani Metals Tubes (down 2.67%), MOIL (down 2.22%), Coal India (down 1.5%) and APL Apollo Tubes (down 0.88%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Tata Metaliks slipped 3.84% to Rs 532.30. The company on Saturday (19 September 2020) informed about the execution of a planned shutdown of one of its blast furnaces and its associated facilities at the company's Kharagpur plant for repair & maintenance including hearth profiling. The operations are expected to be back on stream in 2nd half of October 2020, it added.

Amber Enterprises India fell 2.75% to Rs 1988. The company said that it had acquired 9,000 equity share of face value of Rs 1000 each, comprising of 20% stake, of Sidwal Refrigeration Industries. Accordingly, Sidwal Refrigeration Industries has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amber Enterprises India with effect from 18 September 2020.

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) lost 2.25% to Rs 28.20 after the company said its shareholders approved the proposal to raise upto Rs 5,000 crore through issue of unsecured non-convertible debentures (NCDs)/bonds.

GOCL Corporation soared 11.08% to Rs 207 after the company said its UK subsidiary will garner about Rs 257 crore by paring stake in Quaker Houghton.

Ramco Systems was locked in an upper circuit of 5% at Rs 396.95 after the company said it signed an agreement with CHI Aviation for delivering the full suite Ramco Aviation Software. The agreement comprises maintenance & engineering, supply chain, MRO sales, flight operations, manufacturing, and finance.

RITES fell 2.80% to Rs 248.10. The company said that it had secured a contract for railway electrification works on competition basis amounting to Rs 474.92 crore.

On Friday, 18 September 2020, RITES said its board of directors has approved buyback of 96,98,113 equity shares at Rs 265 per share, translating into the total buy back amount not exceeding Rs 257 crore. The board fixed 30 September 2020 as record date for the purpose of ascertaining the eligibility of shareholders for the buyback.

Global Markets:

The US Dow Future slumped 567 points on Monday, indicating a weak start to Wall Street today.

Shares in Europe and Asia tumbled on Monday. Meanwhile, Hong Kong-listed shares of HSBC and Standard Chartered and slipped 2% to 5% today following reports that they allegedly moved large sums of suspicious funds. The moves came after the banks — among several global lenders — were identified in media reports as having allegedly moved suspicious funds over a period of nearly two decades, according to media reports.

The US stocks declined for third straight session on Friday, 18 September 2020, with the major averages finished firmly into negative territory, on rising tensions between the world's two largest economies after Trump administration announcement to ban Chinese-owned apps TikTok and WeChat from US app stores starting late on Sunday.

Meanwhile, selloff also fuelled amid renewed concerns about the economic outlook following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. While the Fed indicated it plans to leave interest rates at near-zero levels for years to come, traders seem skeptical that will be enough to support the economy.

US consumer sentiment index climbed to 78.9 in September from 74.1 in August, the University of Michigan released a report on Friday. The index reached its highest level since March but is still well below the pre-pandemic reading of 101.0 seen in February.