Mumbai: The BSE Sensex on Friday dived almost 510 points -- its biggest single-day fall since 6 February -- to close at 33,176 due to a major sell-off amid global trade worries and political concerns after the TDP quit the NDA and moved a no-confidence notice against the government. Other Asian markets were also in the negative zone as investors fret over the prospect of a global trade war, accelerating selling pressure on the domestic bourses, brokers said.
For the third straight week stocks ended in the red with the flagship Sensex recording a weekly fall of 131.14 points, or 0.39 percent, and the NSE Nifty losing 31.70 points, or 0.30 percent. Sentiment suffered a setback following fresh development on the political front after a key NDA ally, TDP, decided to quit the alliance and moved a no-confidence motion notice against the government, accelerating the selling pace by participants, brokers said.
The Lok Sabha could not take up notices for no-confidence motion with Speaker Sumitra Mahajan saying there was no order in the House and adjourned the proceedings for the day.
"Market slid as investors continued to remain cautious amid current issues in the US administration on global trade and domestic political uncertainties," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said. The 30-share Sensex tumbled by 509.54 points or 1.51 percent, its biggest single day fall since 6 February when it had lost 561.22 points, to end at 33,176. Intra-day, it shuttled between 33,119.92 and 33,691.32 as metal, oil & gas, PSU, power, auto and banking stocks recorded widespread losses. The flagship index had lost 232.40 points in the previous three sessions.
Sensex dives 510 points. Reuters image.
The broader NSE Nifty dipped below the 10,200-mark to hit a low of 10,180.25 before ending at 10,195.15, down by 165 points, or 1.59 percent.
Foreign portfolio investors had sold shares worth Rs 705.40 crore on net basis yesterday. All the sectoral indices led by metal, oil & gas, energy, PSU, power and banking ended in the negative zone with losses of up to 2.30 percent. In the Sensex kitty, Tata Motors emerged the worst performer by slumping 3.67 percent, followed by Asian Paint 3.09 percent.
Other laggards include, Adani Ports, Hero MotoCorp, NTPC, Sun Pharma, Kotak Bank, ONGC, HDFC Ltd, L&T, Dr Reddy's, ITC Ltd, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki, TCS, Bajaj Auto, Reliance Industries, Power Grid, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, SBI and Coal India, plunging up to 2.89 percent. Bucking the trend, M&M, Wipro, Hindustan Unilever and Yes Bank ended in the green, rising up to 0.88 percent.
In the broader market, the BSE mid-cap index fell by 1.07 percent while the small-cap index shed 1 percent. Shares of Gitanjali Gems continued to be under selling pressure, falling 4.63 per ent to Rs 12.35.
In Asian region, Japan's Nikkei lost 0.58 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.12 percent, while Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.65 percent. European markets, however, were in a slightly mixed form in their early deals. Paris CAC 40 was down 0.02 percent, while Frankfurt's DAX was higher by 0.32 percent. London's FTSE too up 0.20 percent.
Published Date: Mar 16, 2018 17:31 PM | Updated Date: Mar 16, 2018 17:41 PM