Sensex in red, drops 500 points after Asian markets, Wall Street bleed once again

BSE Sensex today opened lower by over 500 points, falling by 1.5 percent after Asian shares tanked early on Friday with US indices extending sharp losses in the last session.

The 50-share NSE Nifty fell by 177 points or 1.68 percent.

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Earlier today, Asian stocks tumbled to two-month lows after Wall Street shares suffered yet another big slide in the face of rapidly-rising bond yields, with perceived havens such as the yen and Swiss franc in demand amid the turmoil.

Japan's Nikkei sagged 3.3 percent, en route for a weekly loss of 8.9 percent while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 2.3 percent to a two-month low. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 2.8 percent and Shanghai retreated 2.85 percent.

US markets remained the epicentre of the global sell-off, with the Dow plunging 4.1 percent and the S&P 500 sinking 3.7 percent overnight.

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US stocks began to wobble last Friday after a healthy US labour market report sparked a spike in bond yields and fears of rising inflation which could trigger more central bank rate hikes.

The Swiss franc was mostly unchanged at 0.9370 franc per dollar after advancing about 0.7 percent the previous day while the euro added 0.1 percent to $1.2260.

US crude futures were down 0.9 percent at $60.58 per barrel after hitting a seven-week trough of $60.27 on Thursday amid fears of rising global supplies after Iran announced plans to increase production and U.S. crude output hit record highs.

Brent crude fell 0.65 percent to $64.38 per barrel.

THE PLUMMETING INDICES

(Inputs from agencies)

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