Sensex plunges 807 points to crack 23,000-mark after 21 months; NSE closes below 7,000-level
The fall was so widespread that 28 Sensex stocks closed with losses including Adani Ports, BHEL, Tata Motors, ONGC, M&M, Tata Steel, HDFC, RIL, Axis Bank, GAIL, Maruti, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, lupin and ITC falling up to 6.94%.
In a bloody carnage on Dalal Street, market benchmark Sensex plunged by 807.07 points on Thursday, its biggest fall in six months, to settle below 23,000-level after 21 months as fears of a global slowdown and disappointing quarterly numbers combined to batter investor sentiment.
Total investor wealth, measured in terms of cumulative market value of all listed stocks, tanked by more than Rs 3 lakh crore. Following Thursday's fall, the Sensex has come off over 23 per cent from its all-time peak of 30,024 recorded nearly a year ago on March 4 while the total investors' wealth has come down by close to Rs 20 lakh crore since then. With this domestic equities have entered a 'bear market', which experts define as a fall of 20% from all-time peak.
The BSE Sensex after opening lower at 23,758.46 continued to slide on heavy selling pressure in blue-chips, forcing the index to touch a low of 22,909.12 before settling at 22,951.83 showing a fall of 807.07 points or 3.40%. This was index's weakest closing since May 12, 2014. The 50-share NSE Nifty broke 7,000-mark after plunging 239.35 points or 3.32% to 6,976.35.
The fall was so widespread that 28 Sensex stocks closed with losses including Adani Ports, BHEL, Tata Motors, ONGC, M&M, Tata Steel, HDFC, RIL, Axis Bank, GAIL, Maruti, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, lupin and ITC falling up to 6.94%.
Only Cipla and Dr Reddy's ended in the green territory. Among BSE sectoral indices, realty suffered the most at 5.94% followed by power (4.81%), PSU (3.90%), oils&gas (3.82%), metal (3.81%), banking (3.81%), capital goods (3.57%) and auto (3.53%). The broader markets also performed weak with the BSE small-cap index falling 4.64% and mid-cap down 3.27%.
Weak quarterly earnings of key corporates, global economic growth prospects and continued selling pressure by foreign portfolio investors and oil prices tanked again on fears of a deepening economic slowdown, dampened the sentiment. Country's biggest lender State Bank of India fell by 2.99% to Rs 154.20 after it posted 67% decline in consolidated profit to Rs 1,259.49 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2015-16.
Overseas, Asian and European shares declined, as investors weighed a warning from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen that global financial market turbulence could hurt US growth. Hong Kong listed shares plunged 3.85% to a three year low, while European markets were also down in their early trend.