Mumbai: Reversing their two-session rising streak, equity benchmarks buckled under selling pressure on Wednesday as the Russia-Ukraine war hammered investor confidence and roiled financial markets globally.
A sharp depreciation in the rupee, unabated selling by foreign investors and lacklustre macroeconomic data added to the gloom, analysts said.
Investors' wealth tumbled Rs 86,741.74 crore on Wednesday, mirroring weakness in the global equity markets.
The 30-share BSE Sensex opened weak and plunged about 1,200 points in intra-day trade, before recovering some lost ground. It finally ended 778.38 points or 1.38 per cent lower at 55,468.90.
On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty shed 187.95 points or 1.12 per cent to close at 16,605.95.
Maruti Suzuki was the top loser in the Sensex pack, tumbling 6 per cent, after the country's largest carmaker reported subdued sales and production figures for February, hit by the ongoing global semiconductor shortage. Other auto stocks too bore the brunt of heavy selling.
Dr Reddy's, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, HDFC twins and UltraTech Cement were among the other prominent laggards, slipping as much as 5.14 per cent.
On the other hand, Tata Steel, Titan, Reliance Industries, Nestle India and Axis Bank climbed up to 5.54 per cent.
Market heavyweight Reliance Industries spurted 1.67 per cent after crude oil prices touched the $110 per barrel mark.
The market breadth was negative, with 23 of the 30 Sensex constituents closing in the red.
Sector-wise, BSE auto, bankex, finance, consumer discretionary goods and telecom slumped up to 2.87 per cent, while metal, power, oil and gas and utilities posted gains. In the broader markets, the BSE midcap and smallcap gauges dipped up to 0.17 per cent.
Russia's military offensive against Ukraine entered its seventh day on Wednesday, with fighting intensifying in Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other big cities, even as western nations tightened sanctions on Moscow.
US President Joe Biden announced that the United States is closing its airspace to Russian planes, asserting that this along with other punitive measures would weaken Russia.
The US and EU have imposed various sanctions on Russia. These include curbs on Russia's biggest banks and excluding its financial institutions from the SWIFT global payments system.
In other Asian markets, bourses in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai ended with losses, while Seoul closed in the green. Stock exchanges in Europe were trading mixed in afternoon trade.
Tracking the Ukraine crisis, Brent crude futures surged 5.09 per cent to $110.31 per barrel.
The rupee depreciated by 47 paise to close at 75.80 against the US dollar on Wednesday as riskier assets took a hit amid deepening geopolitical tensions.