Sensex down 650 points after sharp fall in global equities

New Delhi:

Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty fell more than 1 percent in opening trading on Friday on the back of big sell-offs in financials, IT and capital goods stocks amid weak global trends.

The 30-stock BSE barometer fell 730.17 points, or 1.22 percent, to 59,076.11, while 25 of its voters traded in the red. The index opened lower and fell to a low of 59,062.72 in early trading.

The National Stock Exchange’s broader Nifty fell 201.05 points, or 1.14 percent, to 17,388.55 in opening trading. As many as 45 of Nifty’s shares traded in the red, with Adani Enterprises, HDFC twins and IndusInd Bank becoming the biggest losers.

Heavy selling in financials, banks, IT and capital goods, caused by weak Asian markets and overnight losses in the US market, weighed on benchmark indices, analysts said.

“The sell-off in US markets was triggered by a 60 percent crash in SVB Financials – a bank that primarily finances start-ups. This impacted sentiment and bank stocks took a hit from concerns that rising interest rates could lead to to loan defaults.” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Among Sensex shares, HDFC fell the most with 2.53 percent. IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, L&T, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, Infosys, TCS and Ultratech Cement were among the big losers.

Tata Motors bucked the trend and gained 0.75 percent. Bharti Airtel and Maruti also advanced.

In Asia, markets in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul fell on losses in US equities. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.45 percent, South Korea’s Kospi 1.21 percent, Shanghai 1.15 percent and Japan’s Nikkei 1.36 percent.

In the US, the S&P 500 plunged 1.8 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.7 percent and the Nasdaq composite fell 2.1 percent as investors remain concerned about the prospect of more aggressive action from the Federal Reserve to fight inflation with higher interest rates.

The 30-stock BSE Sensex ended 541.81 points or 0.90 percent lower at 59,806.28, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 164.80 points, or 0.93 percent, to 17,589.60.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) emerged as net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they sold shares worth Rs 561.78 crore, according to exchange data.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)