Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty fell sharply by nearly 1 per cent on Thursday, continuing their weak momentum for the fourth straight session, due to renewed concerns over potential US tariff hikes amid widespread selling pressure in global markets.
Deep losses in metal, oil & gas, and commodity stocks amid unabated foreign fund outflows added to the pressure, analysts said.
The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 780.18 points, or 0.92 per cent, to settle at 84,180.96. During the day, it plummeted 851.04 points, or 1 per cent, to 84,110.10.
A total of 3,158 stocks declined while 1,039 advanced and 170 remained unchanged on the BSE.
The 50-share NSE Nifty tumbled 263.90 points or 1.01 per cent to 25,876.85.
“Market sentiment deteriorated amid heightened geopolitical tensions and global trade-related concerns, which weighed on overall risk appetite. Continued foreign institutional selling, coupled with weakness in the rupee, further added to the negative bias. With global cues remaining mixed and the earnings season approaching, trading activity remained cautious and largely stock-specific,” Ajit Mishra - SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.
From the 30-Sensex firms, Larsen & Toubro, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel, and Trent were among the biggest laggards.
On the other hand, Eternal, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, and Bharat Electronics were the gainers.
In the past four days, the BSE benchmark has tanked 1,581.05 points or 1.84 per cent, and the Nifty dropped 451.7 points or 1.71 per cent.
US President Donald Trump has backed a sanctions bill that could impose 500 per cent tariffs on countries buying Russian oil, giving the White House leverage against countries like China and India to stop them from purchasing cheap oil from
Moscow.
US Senator Lindsey Graham on Wednesday said the legislation would give the White House “tremendous leverage” against countries like China, India and Brazil to incentivise them to stop buying cheap oil from Russia.
The BSE midcap gauge dropped 1.99 per cent, and the smallcap index declined by 1.97 per cent.
Among sectoral indices, metal tanked 3.34 per cent, oil & gas (3.15 per cent), power (2.92 per cent), energy (2.64 per cent), industrials (2.36 per cent), commodities (2.36 per cent), PSU bank (2.21 per cent), BSE Focused IT (2.04 per cent) and utilities (2 per cent).
In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi index was higher, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai’s SSE Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended lower.
Markets in Europe were trading marginally lower.
US markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday.
Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 1,527.71 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth Rs 2,889.32 crore, according to exchange data.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.75 per cent to $60.42 per barrel.
On Wednesday, the Sensex declined 102.20 points, or 0.12 per cent, to settle at 84,961.14. The Nifty went down by 37.95 points or 0.14 per cent to 26,140.75.