Market decline for fifth day in row as Sensex tanks over 617 points amid heavy sell-off

Mumbai: Falling for the fifth day in a row, benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled nearly 1 per cent each on Thursday due to heavy sell-off in metal, consumer durables and select IT shares amid the monthly expiry of derivatives contracts.

The 30-share BSE Sensex plunged by 617.30 points or 0.83 per cent to settle at 73,885.60. The barometer hit the day’s low of 73,668.73 due to selling in blue-chips. In the five days of fall, the barometer tanked 1,532 points or 2 per cent. The index has been on a downtrend since May 23 when it closed at its lifetime high level.

The NSE Nifty dropped by 216.05 points or 0.95 per cent to close at 22,488.65. The index has lost 479 points in the five sessions to Thursday.

From the Sensex pack, Tata Steel, Titan, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Nestle India, Tata Motors and JSW Steel were the biggest laggards. ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the gainers.

Sensex and the NSE Nifty have experienced their fifth consecutive session of losses, resulting in investors losing nearly Rs 10 lakh crore in market wealth.

The BSE midcap gauge declined 1.21 per cent, while smallcap index plunged 1.33 per cent.

Among the indices, metal dropped 2.67 per cent, consumer durables and Commodities went lower 2.05 per cent each, IT (1.97 per cent), healthcare (1.64 per cent), Tech (1.54 per cent), Auto (1.37 per cent), and Services (1.25 per cent). Bankex was the only gainer.