Sensex, Nifty tank amid sell-offinglobalmarkets
Firm crude oil prices and foreign fund outflows also affected sentiment
MUMBAI: Equity benchmarks nosedived on Friday amid a selloff in global markets. Unabated foreign fund outflows and firm crude oil prices also weighed on sentiment.
The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 1,115.48 points or 2% to 54,586.75 during the day before rallying to close at a net 866.65 points or 1.56% lower to finish at 54,835.58.
Similarly, the NSE Nifty tumbled 271.40 points or 1.63% to settle at 16,411.25.
In the Sensex, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle, Wipro, HDFC, Infosys, HDFC Bank, and UltraTech Cement were the major laggards.
The stocks that gained included Tech Mahindra, PowerGrid, ITC, SBI, and NTPC, among others.
Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Korea settled significantly lower, while Tokyo ended higher.
Exchanges in Europe were trading in the negative zone in the afternoon session.
Stock exchanges in the US had fallen sharply in overnight trade on Thursday.
“US markets witnessed a relief rally on Wednesday after the Federal Open Market Committee meeting but tumbled on Thursday because of more anxiety over rising interest rates,” according to Mohit Nigam, head, PMS, Hem Securities.
The Bank of England on Thursday raised its key interest rate to the highest level in 13 years.
“A steep crash in US stocks as the market evaluated the need for a higher rate hike to tame elevated inflation levels wounded global markets with heavy selling. The Bank of England, while raising its interest rates, warned about a possible risk of recession, aggravating investor fears,” according to Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped as much as 2.20% to $113.3 per barrel. Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth a net ₹2,074.74 crore on Thursday, according to stock exchange data.
The Indian rupee weakened as much as 0.9% to 76.97 against the dollar earlier in the session, its lowest level since March 7.