Sensex tanks 997 pts from day's high, breaches 44K; Nifty ends at 12,858

After scaling fresh record highs in the morning trade, the domestic equity market tumbled around 1.5 per cent on Wednesday as investors booked profit across-the-board. Volatility index, India VIX, jumped 10 per cent to 23.1 levels. 

Among headline indices, the S&P BSE Sensex ended 695 points, or 1.56 per cent lower at 43,828 levels while NSE's Nifty ended at 12,858, down 197 points, or 1.51 per cent. In the early trade, Sensex hit a high of 44,825.37 while Nifty scaled the peak of 13,146 levels. 

Investors lost over Rs 2.2 trillion in today's trade as the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies slipped to Rs 172.5 trillion against Rs 174.8 trillion on Tuesday. 

Out of 30 constituents of Sensex, 27 declined and just 3 advanced. ONGC ended as the top gainer - up over 6 per cent.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap declined 1.76 per cent to 16,444 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap index fell over 1 per cent to 16,363 points. 

On the NSE, barring Nifty PSU Bank index, all other sectoral indices ended in the red. Nifty PSU Bank index gained nearly 2 per cent to 1,509.85 levels. 
 

Global markets

World shares rallied to a record peak on Wednesday following an overnight surge that saw the Dow Jones benchmark crack 30,000 for the first time as investors cheered a dramatically improved global outlook. 

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei rallied 0.5% to a 29-year high while MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gave up early gains to trade down 0.2% as Chinese shares were capped by worries about rising debt defaults.

In commodities, oil rose for the fourth straight session on Wednesday as the market shrugged off an industry report showing US crude stockpiles rose more than expected, extending a rally driven by hopes that a Covid-19 vaccine will boost fuel demand.

(With inputs from Reuters)