Sensex crashes 1,747 points, Nifty closes below 16,850: What investors should do now

The Indian market ended deep in the red today as global markets sinked amid likely invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

Sensex closed 1,747 points lower at 56,405 and Nifty fell 531 points to 16,842.

Tata Steel, HDFC, SBI, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank and Kotak Bank were the top Sensex losers, falling up to 5.49%.

TCS was the sole Sensex loser, rising 1.05% today.

BSE mid cap and small cap indices crashed 852 points and 1,190 points, respectively.

Market cap of BSE-listed firms crashed to Rs 255.42 lakh crore against Rs 263.89 lakh crore mcap in the previous session.

Market breadth was negative with 567 stocks ending lower against 2,984 stocks closing lower on BSE. 119 shares were unchanged.

Stock Market update: Sensex tanks 1,747 points, Nifty ends below 16,850; Tata Steel, HDFC, SBI top losers

Banking, capital goods , consumer durables and metal stocks were the top sectoral losers with BSE bankex, BSE capital goods, BSE consumer durables, and BSE metals index slumping  1,872 pts, 1016 points, 1143 points, and 1064 points, respectively.

 All 19 BSE sectoral indices ended in the red.

On Friday, Sensex closed 773 points lower at 58,153 and Nifty lost 231 points to end at 17,374.

Tech Mahindra, Infosys and HCL Tech were the top Sensex losers, falling up to 2.94%.  Of 30 Sensex stocks, 25 ended lower.

Here's a look at what experts said about the stock market crash and the steps investors should take to insulate themselves from the ongoing correction.

Rahul Sharma, Co-owner, Equity 99 said,"Investors are advised to keep strict stop loss considering the volatility in the markets. Also buy on dips is suggested but investors should plan their position keeping adequate liquidity."

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said, "Increased tension between the US and Russia over Ukraine sent oil prices rising and forced investors to dump risky assets. Risk sentiment was further dampened ahead of the Fed’s emergency meeting which heightened fears of aggressive monetary tightening. On the domestic front, the annual WPI inflation eased marginally to 12.96% in January from 13.56% in December, but still high, amid moderation in the fuel and power prices."

Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities said, "Panic selling in global markets took its toll on domestic benchmark indices as investors fretted over geo-political tensions and rising crude oil prices. With mounting concerns over the prospects of a likely hike in US interest rates, foreign funds have been deserting Indian stocks at a brisk pace, which also caused Nifty to slip below the psychological 17,000 mark. Technically, the Nifty has formed a bearish gap down candlestick formation which suggests further weakness from the current levels. The Nifty is now trading near the 200 day SMA level and as long as the index is trading below 17050, there are chances that it could hit 16750 and 16550 levels."