Sensex tumbles nearly 1,200 pts to slip below 80k; Nifty drops 360 pts as heavyweights drag

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty surrendered early gains to plunge nearly 1.50 per cent on Thursday, weighed down by intense selling in market heavyweights Infosys, RIL and HDFC Bank amid a mixed trend in global equities.

Besides, deep losses in IT, auto and consumer durable stocks amid escalating geopolitical tensions also added to the weak investors' sentiment, analysts said.

The BSE benchmark Sensex slumped 1,190.34 points or 1.48 per cent to settle at 79,043.74. During the day, it tanked 1,315.16 points or 1.63 per cent to 78,918.92.

Investors' wealth fell by Rs 1,50,265.63 crore to Rs 4,42,98,083.42 crore (USD 5.24 trillion).

The NSE Nifty tumbled 360.75 points or 1.49 per cent to 23,914.15.

Shares of five of the 11 listed Adani Group firms ended higher on Thursday, with Adani Total Gas soaring nearly 16 per cent.

Stocks of Adani Energy Solutions zoomed 10 per cent, Adani Green Energy soared 10 per cent, and Adani Enterprises climbed 1.63 per cent. Meanwhile, Adani Ports declined 2.73 per cent.

"Domestic markets took a breather after a strong start to the week. The overnight sell-off in the US market, driven by renewed uncertainty about the rate cut trajectory and rising geopolitical tension, led to a correction in heavyweight IT and consumer discretionary stocks," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, Titan, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries and Power Grid were among the laggards.

On the other hand, State Bank of India was the only gainer.

The BSE smallcap gauge climbed 0.41 per cent while the midcap index dipped 0.06 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, the BSE Focused IT tumbled 2.35 per cent, IT lost 2.26 per cent, teck (2.12 per cent), auto (1.39 per cent), consumer durables (1.20 per cent), bankex (0.81 per cent) and consumer discretionary (0.70 per cent0.

In contrast, BSE utilities, oil & gas and realty were the gainers.

"Nifty closed sharply lower at 23,914, down 1.49 per cent, weighed by monthly F&O expiry and weak global cues. Escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and uncertainties over the US interest rate trajectory post mixed economic data releases dented sentiment," Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Tokyo settled in the green, while Shanghai and Hong Kong ended lower.

European markets were trading higher. The US markets ended lower on Wednesday. The decline in tech companies dragged major American indices lower.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 7.78 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.49 per cent to USD 73.18 a barrel.

On Wednesday, the BSE benchmark climbed 230.02 points or 0.29 per cent to settle at 80,234.08. The Nifty rose 80.40 points or 0.33 per cent to 24,274.90.

Inputs from PTI