Bear raids markets as Sensex falls 1,159 pts, Nifty below 17,900

Mumbai: Posting its biggest one-day rout in over six months, the BSE Sensex nosedived 1,159 points on Thursday as investors unwound long positions on expiry of monthly derivative contracts amid a string of lacklustre earnings and cautious sentiment overseas.

Banking, FMCG and energy shares came under heavy selling pressure, while midcap and smallcap counters also suffered hefty losses.

Sliding for the second straight session, the 30-share BSE benchmark tanked 1,158.63 points or 1.89 per cent to close at 59,984.70. This was its biggest drop since April 12 this year, when it had plunged 1,708 points.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty plummeted 353.70 points or 1.94 per cent to finish at 17,857.25.

ITC was the top loser in the Sensex pack, tumbling 5.54 per cent, a day after reporting a lower-than-estimated 10.09 per cent increase in consolidated net profit for the second quarter. ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank, Axis Bank, Titan, SBI and HDFC Bank were among the other major laggards, shedding as much as 4.39 per cent.

Only six Sensex counters managed to close in the green.

IndusInd Bank topped the gainers' chart with a jump of 2.94 per cent after clocking a 73 per cent rise in Q2 net profit. L&T, UltraTech Cement, Asian Paints, Maruti and Bajaj Finance were the other winners.

Investors lost Rs 4.82 lakh crore in Thursday's session, with the market capitalisation of all BSE-listed companies standing at Rs 2,60,48,949.80 crore.

Sectorally, barring capital goods, all BSE sectoral indices notched up losses, led by realty, bankex, power, utilities and oil and gas. Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices tumbled up to 1.56 per cent.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude slipped 1.11 per cent to $82.94 per barrel. Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,913.36 crore, as per exchange data.