Sensex crashes over 750 pts; Nifty ends below 10,300 on global rout

Mumbai: The BSE Sensex slumped over 750 points to end at a six-month low and NSE Nifty ended below the 10,300 mark Thursday as global indices witnessed across-the-board losses after investor sentiment was hit by heavy sell-off in world markets.

The 30-share index, which commenced with a gap down opening, cracked over 1,000 points, breaching the 34,000-mark and hit a low of 33,723.53, before staging a partial recovery to touch a high of 34,325.09 in afternoon trade.

The gauge finally ended 759.74 points, or 2.19 per cent, lower at 34,001.15. This is the lowest closing since April 11.

It had gained 461.42 points Wednesday.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty settled at 10,234.65, down 225.45 points, or 2.16 per cent. It moved between 10,138.60 and 10,335.95 in day trade.

"This sell-off is part of the global sell-off triggered by the sharp cut in the mother market US," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

This is leading to capital outflows from emerging markets (EMs) like India. Apart from the rising bond yield in the US and EM currency woes, there are global trade skirmishes impacting the sentiment, he added.

"While most of the earlier fall could be attributed largely to domestic factors, the reason for Thursday's fall is clearly global with the US markets falling sharply after President Trump's acerbic comments against the Federal Reserve and the consequent sharp fall witnessed in all the major Asian markets," said Dheeraj Singh, Head of Investments - Taurus AMC.

In an unprecedented criticism by a serving US President, Trump said the Federal Reserve had gone crazy after the Dow Jones Industrial Average in New York tumbled by over 800 points Wednesday, the biggest decline in more than seven months.

Among the Sensex pack, state-run lender SBI was the biggest loser, plunging by 5.74 per cent, followed by Tata Steel 4.60 per cent.

Stocks of IT bellwether TCS fell 3.10 per cent ahead of September quarter earnings to be released later Thursday.

Other laggards included Vedanta, M&M, Infosys, Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, HDFC, IndusInd Bank, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto, ICICI Bank, L&T, Kotak Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, Coal India and ITC, falling up to 4.45 per cent.