Sensex dips 568 points, investors lose over Rs 2L cr

Mumbai: Extending its sell-off to the third straight session, equity benchmark Sensex slumped 568 points on Tuesday as investors scrambled to offload riskier assets ahead of the RBI's policy decision.

Investors' wealth on Tuesday tumbled over Rs 2 lakh crore amid heavy selling pressure in domestic equities. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms tumbled by Rs 2,08,291.75 crore to Rs 2,54,33,013.63 crore.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened in the red and sank around 800 points during the session. It finally finished 567.98 points or 1.02 per cent lower at 55,107.34.

The broader NSE Nifty slumped 153.20 points or 0.92 per cent to end at 16,416.35.

Titan was the biggest laggard in the Sensex pack, tumbling 4.48 per cent, followed by Dr Reddy's, Larsen & Toubro, HUL, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, TCS and Nestle India.

Only five counters managed to close higher -- NTPC, Maruti, M&M, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries, climbing up to 1.35 per cent.

The RBI will announce its monetary policy decision on Wednesday amid expectations of another hike in benchmark interest rate to contain inflation that continues to remain above the central bank's upper tolerance level.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge declined 0.77 per cent and the smallcap index shed 0.67 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, consumer durables slumped 2.71 per cent, followed by realty (1.57 per cent), capital goods (1.53 per cent), FMCG (1.42 per cent), IT (1.42 per cent), teck (1.32 per cent) and basic materials (1.17 per cent). In contrast, oil & gas, energy, telecom, utilities, auto and power mustered gains.

A total of 2,011 stocks declined, while 1,286 advanced and 121 remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.26 per cent to $119.2 per barrel.

The rupee tumbled 12 paise to close at a fresh lifetime low of 77.78 against the US dollar on Tuesday. PTI