Bourses sink as bears return to D-street, Sensex dives 867 pts

Mumbai: Dalal Street wilted under intense selling pressure on Friday, mirroring a meltdown in world equities as investors braced for slowing global growth amid policy tightening by central banks.

A sharp drop in the rupee amid a spurt in crude oil prices and unabated foreign fund outflows added to the woes.

Investors became poorer by over Rs 4.47 lakh crore on Friday as markets faced severe drubbing, mirroring weak trends in global equities.

Tracking an extremely weak trend in equities, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms tumbled Rs 4,47,172.57 crore to Rs 2,55,17,716.80 crore.

The 30-share BSE Sensex dived 866.65 points or 1.56 per cent to finish at 54,835.58. During the day, it tanked 1,115.48 points or 2 per cent to 54,586.75.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty tumbled 271.40 points or 1.63 per cent to settle at 16,411.25.

Bajaj Finance was the top laggard among the Sensex components, skidding 4.91 per cent, followed by Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle, Wipro, HDFC, Infosys, HDFC Bank and UltraTech

Cement.

In contrast, Tech Mahindra, PowerGrid, ITC, SBI, NTPC and Sun Pharma mustered gains of up to 2.21 per cent.

On a weekly basis, the Sensex slumped 2,225.29 points or 3.89 per cent, while the Nifty lost 691.30 points or 4.04 per cent.

"Markets were in southward direction right from the start of the trading session and selling intensified thereafter as rising crude oil prices reignited fears that inflation would pose a major challenge going ahead.

"The market is in a dilemma that in a rising interest rate scenario, a more hawkish stance by the RBI going ahead could hurt growth," said Amol Athawale, Deputy Vice President - Technical Research, Kotak Securities Ltd.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge fell 2.10 per cent and midcap dropped 2.06 per cent.

Most BSE sectoral indices ended lower, with realty shedding 3.53 per cent, followed by metal (3.10 per cent), basic materials (2.80 per cent), consumer durables (2.41 per cent) and IT (2.27 per cent).

Utilities and power settled with gains.

As many as 2,519 stocks declined, while 835 advanced and 106 remained unchanged.

World markets, which had initially shrugged off the US Fed's rate hike, slumped on renewed worries about economic recovery amid interest rate increases and lockdowns in China.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England raised its key interest rate to the highest level in 13 years on Thursday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 2.20 per cent to $113.3 per barrel.

The rupee slumped 55 paise to close at 76.90 against the US dollar on Friday, weighed down by a strong American currency overseas and firm crude oil prices.

Foreign institutional investors remained in selling mode, offloading shares worth a net Rs 2,074.74 crore on Thursday, according to stock

exchange data.