Mumbai: Equity indices faced heavy drubbing on Thursday after an initial rally, with the Sensex tanking 1,045.60 points amid a largely bearish trend overseas after the US Federal Reserve hiked rates by 75 basis points.
Across-the-board selling played havoc on the headline indices, with index majors Reliance Industries and HDFC twins contributing most to the decline.
Equity investors became poorer by Rs 15.74 lakh crore in five days of decline in the market.
BSE-listed firms tumbled Rs 15,74,931.56 crore to Rs 2,39,20,631.65 crore in five days.
Despite a smart rally in morning trade, the BSE benchmark failed to hold on to the gains and plummeted 1,045.60 points or 1.99 per cent to settle at 51,495.79 — its fifth day of decline.
During the day, it tumbled 1,115.91 points or 2.12 per cent to its one-year low of 51,425.48.
On similar lines, the NSE Nifty plunged 331.55 points or 2.11 per cent to close at 15,360.60.
From the Sensex pack, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank and NTPC were the biggest laggards.
Nestle India was the only gainer.
Stock exchanges in the US ended with sharp gains in the overnight session on Wednesday despite the rate hike
by Fed.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.66 per cent to $117.68 per barrel.
The rupee on Thursday recovered from its record low to close 12 paise higher at 78.10 against the American currency, tracking the overnight weakness of the dollar and falling crude oil prices.
At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened at 78.06 against the greenback and moved in a narrow range of 78 to 78.12.
It finally ended at 78.10, higher by 12 paise over its previous close.
On Wednesday, the rupee had plunged 18 paise to close at its fresh lifetime low of 78.22.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.13 per cent to 105.02.