Mumbai: The Sensex plunged 981 points to end below the 60,000-mark following across-the-board selling on Friday, marking its fourth straight day of losses during which investors have lost over Rs 15 lakh crore.
Equity investors have become poorer by Rs 15.77 lakh crore in four consecutive days of market rout where the benchmark Sensex has tumbled over 3 per cent.
Surging COVID cases in China and a few other nations have fanned fears of another global pandemic wave, while stronger US growth data has cemented expectations of the Federal Reserve continuing with its hawkish stance, experts said.
The 30-share BSE Sensex slumped 980.93 points or 1.61 per cent to settle at 59,845.29 — closing below the psychologically key 60,000-mark after October 28 this year.
On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty dropped 320.55 points or 1.77 per cent to end at 17,806.80.
Barring Titan, all Sensex stocks closed in the red, led by Tata Steel (down nearly 5 per cent), Tata Motors, SBI, Bajaj Finserv, Reliance Industries, Wipro, IndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki and L&T.
Investors have now lost Rs 15.78 lakh crore in four sessions, with the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies standing at Rs 2,72,12,860.03 crore.
The US economy grew at an unexpectedly strong 3.2 per cent on an annual basis in the quarter ended September.
On a weekly basis, the Sensex has tumbled 1,492.52 points or 2.43 per cent, while the Nifty tanked 462.20 points or 2.52 per cent.
The broader market took a heavy beating in Friday's session, as the BSE smallcap gauge tumbled 4.11 per cent and the midcap index lost 3.40 per
cent.
All sectoral indices ended in the negative territory, with services tanking 5.43 per cent, followed by utilities (5.17 per cent) power (4.89 per cent), metal (3.93 per cent), commodities (3.92 per cent), energy (3.82 per cent), oil & gas (3.71 per cent) and industrials (3.26 per cent).
Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong posted losses.
Equity exchanges in Europe were trading in the positive territory in mid-session deals. The US markets had ended sharply lower on Thursday.
International oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.89 per cent to $82.51 per barrel.
The rupee declined by 3 paise to close at 82.82 against the US dollar on Friday due to firm crude oil prices and steep losses in domestic stocks. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth a net Rs 706.84 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.