Sensex, Nifty slump nearly 1% on FII outflows, West Asia tensions

Mumbai: Stock markets slid for the fifth day in a row on Friday with Sensex tumbling 808 points in a topsy-turvy session as FMCG, auto and energy shares succumbed to intense selling and foreign fund outflows triggered by escalating tensions in West Asia.

The BSE Sensex tumbled 808.65 points or 0.98 per cent to settle at a three-week low of 81,688.45.

The benchmark hit a low of 81,532.68 and a high of 83,368.32 during the day, reflecting a wild swing of 1,835.64 points.

The NSE Nifty slumped 235.50 points or 0.93 per cent to 25,014.60. Intra-day, it hit a low of 24,966.80 and a high of 25,485.05.

Market investors became poorer by Rs 16.26 lakh crore in five days of heavy correction in equities. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms slumped Rs 16,26,691.48 crore to Rs 4,60,89,598.54 crore ($5.49 trillion) in five days of the market crash.

On weekly basis, Sensex tanked 3,883.4 points or 4.6 per cent and Nifty by 1,164.35 points or 4.5 per cent in just four sessions, which was their worst week in past two years.

From the 30 Sensex firms, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, Nestle, Bharti Airtel, UltraTech Cement, Hindustan Unilever, ITC, and HDFC Bank were the major laggards.

In contrast, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and State Bank of India were among the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 15,243.27 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

The BSE midcap gauge declined 0.94 per cent and smallcap index went lower by 0.80 per cent.

Among the indices, realty fell the most by 1.60 per cent. Auto (1.50 per cent), telecommunication (1.25 per cent), utilities (1.20 per cent), consumer discretionary (1.18 per cent) and commodities (1.14 per cent) were among losers.

IT emerged as the only gainer.

A total of 2,387 stocks declined while 1,563 advanced and 104 remained unchanged.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong settled in the positive territory. Markets in mainland China are closed due to a holiday.

European markets were trading higher in mid-session deals. The US markets ended lower on Thursday.

Rupee depreciated by 3 paise to settle at 83.99 against the US dollar on Friday as surging crude oil prices amid volatile geopolitics weighed on the local unit, while the Reserve Bank intervened to prevent the domestic currency from touching its lowest level.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.99 per cent to $78.39 a barrel.

Falling for the fourth straight session on Thursday, the BSE benchmark Sensex tumbled 1,769.19 points or 2.10 per cent.

The Nifty slumped 546.80 points or 2.12 per cent.