Sensex tanks over 1,000 points, Nifty falls below 22,000

MUMBAI: Equity benchmark Sensex on Thursday crashed over 1,000 points while the Nifty dived below the 22,000 level due to across-the-board selloff amid general election uncertainties.

Besides, persistent foreign fund outflows and heavy selling pressure in HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Industries weighed on investor sentiment, traders said.

Declining for the third day running, the 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 1,062.22 points or 1.45 per cent to settle at 72,404.17. During the day, it tanked 1,132.21 points or 1.54 per cent to 72,334.18.

The NSE Nifty dived 345 points or 1.55 per cent to 21,957.50. It tumbled 370.1 points or 1.65 per cent to 21,932.40 during the session.

From the Sensex basket, L&T tanked over 5 per cent after March quarter earnings.

Asian Paints, JSW Steel, ITC, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, NTPC, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and Power Grid were among the laggards.

In contrast, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, State Bank of India, Infosys and HCL Tech were the gainers.

Among the indices, oil and gas lost 3.41 per cent, capital goods dropped 3.37 per cent, metal tanked 3.13 per cent, industrials (2.92 per cent), utilities (2.59 per cent) and commodities (2.39 per cent).

On the other hand, auto emerged as the major gainer. Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 6,669.10 cr on Wednesday, exchange data showed.

Investors lose Rs 7.34 lakh cr

Investors’ wealth on Thursday eroded by Rs 7.34 lakh crore as markets took a heavy beating, after the BSE Sensex took a beating.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies eroded by Rs 7,34,513.48 crore to Rs 3,93,34,896.14 crore ($4.71 trillion). On May 2, the mcap of BSE-listed firms reached an all-time peak of Rs 4,08,49,767.90 crore.