Bears took full charge after a solid start to Dalal Street, with the Indian benchmark index down more than 2% in the week to Dec. 23 as rising Covid cases rattled investors.

The BSE Sensex shed 1,492.52 points or 2.43% to end at 59,845.29, and the Nifty50 shed 462.2 points or 2.52% to end at 17,806.8. Both benchmarks are down 5% for the month.

Among sectors, the Nifty PSU Index fell more than 10%, the Nifty Media Index fell 9%, the Nifty Realty Index lost nearly 7%, and the Nifty Metal Index fell 6.4%. However, the Nifty Pharma index rose 1.5%.

For the week, the BSE small-cap index fell 7.6%, the mid-cap index fell 5%, and the large-cap index fell 3%.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) also continued to sell stocks this week, selling shares worth Rs 979.48 crore. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors (DII) increased their buying by purchasing shares worth Rs 8,545.06 crore.

So far this month, FIIs have sold shares worth Rs 8,469.53 crore, and DIIs have bought shares worth Rs 19,096.68 crore.

The BSE small-cap index fell 7.6%, with more than 300 stocks posting double-digit losses. Lancer Containers Lines, Good Luck India, Andrew Yule and Company, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam, BCL Industries, Infibeam Avenues, Ramky Industries, Taj GVK Hotels & Resorts, Deepak Fertilizers, National Fertilizers, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers, HLV, Punjab & Sind Bank, IFCI, Hindustan Foods, Central Bank of India, Ujjivan Financial Services, South Indian Bank, RSWM and SEPC fell 20-31%.

On the other hand, Morepen Laboratories, Syncom Formulations, IOL Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, Nectar Lifesciences, JBM Auto and Nureca rose 10-34%.