Sensex plunges 661 points to close at 36,033 as financial stocks drag; Nifty settles at 10,607

NEW DELHI: Equity indices plunged on Tuesday with the benchmark BSE sensex falling over 650 points dragged by banking and financial stocks, amid selloff in global markets.
The 30-share BSE index dropped 661 points or 1.80 per cent to close at 36,033; while the broader NSE Nifty finished 195 points or 1.81 per cent lower at 10,607.
IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Maruti, Bajaj FinServ, Power Grid, SBI and Kotak Bank were the major laggards in the sensex pack falling as much as 5.49 per cent. 27 out 30 stocks finished in red.
While Titan, Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Auto were the only gainers, rising up to 0.93 per cent.
On the NSE platform, sub-indices Nifty Private Bank, PSU Bank and Bank fell as muchc as 3.32 per cent.
According to traders, besides stock-specific actions, negative cues from global markets amid escalating US-China tension and rising Covid-19 cases dampened investor sentiment here.
"A large part of cities that make up the service economy are under lockdown conditions, so it does not look like the economy is moving ahead," Samrat Dasgupta, chief executive at Esquire Capital Investment Advisors told news agency Reuters.
"We cannot expect the market to be completely out of sync with this," he added.
Further, investor sentiment also weakened after the June Consumer Price Index (CPI) breached Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) tolerance band of 6 per cent, traders said.
Retail inflation increased to 6.09 per cent in June, mainly on account of higher prices of food items; while Wholesale Price Inflation (WPI) declined 1.81 per cent.
On the currency front, rupee tumbled 23 paise to settle at 75.42 (provisional) against the US dollar as risk appetite remained weak amid heavy selling in domestic equities and strengthening American currency.
(With agency inputs)