Sensex tanks 1,491 points, Nifty ends below 15,900 as rise in crude rates roils global markets

The Indian equity market ended lower for the fourth straight session today, led by losses in banking, auto, consumer durables and capital goods stocks. A spike in oil prices on the likelihood of energy sanctions on Russia roiled markets across the globe.

Sensex fell 1,491 points to 52,842 and Nifty slipped 382 points to 15,863.

IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Maruti, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv were the top Sensex losers, falling up to 7.63 per cent.
Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech , Tata Steel, and Infosys were the top Sensex gainers, rising up to 3.46%. Of the 30 Sensex stocks, 26 ended lower.

Brent crude prices hit a fresh high of $139.13 per barrel as West was considering sanctions over oil and gas exports from Russia.

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BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices lost 509 points and 605 points, respectively.

On the sectoral front, banking, auto, capital goods and consumer durables shares led the losses today. BSE bankex crashed 1816 points to 37,726 and BSE auto plunged 908 points to 21,669. BSE consumer durables index lost 858 points to 40,114. BSE capital goods index fell 840 points to 25,709.

 Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities said," Nifty is now close to the supports of 15,700-15,900. It has seen buying support from this band twice during the day. However, advance decline ratio remains down at 450:1873. The state assembly elections exit polls result expected in the evening could bring an end to one uncertainty faced by the markets. Unless the outcome is severely against the BJP, we think that the markets could bounce back in the next few sessions not getting too perturbed by the developments in Europe."

The market breadth was negative with 849 shares ending higher against 2,608 stocks in the red. 137 shares were unchanged.

Market cap of BSE-listed firms fell to Rs 241.10 lakh crore today against the previous session's market cap of Rs 246.73 lakh crore.

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Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, as they sold shares worth Rs 7,631 crore on March 4, according to NSE data.

Meanwhile, the rupee tanked 84 paise to close at its lifetime low of 77.01 against the US dollar as intensifying geopolitical risks due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict pushed investors to safe haven assets.

On Friday, Sensex fell 768 points to 54,333 and Nifty slipped 252 points to 16,245. Titan, Maruti, Asian Paints were the top Sensex losers, falling up to 5.05 per cent. Dr Reddy's Labs, ITC and Tech Mahindra were the top Sensex gainers, rising up to 2.95 per cent.Of 30 Sensex stocks, 23 ended lower.

Global markets

France’s CAC 40 dipped 3.6% in early trading to 5,841.82, while Germany’s DAX lost nearly 4.1% to 12,564.78. Britain’s FTSE 100 dropped 2.0% to 6,848.87. US shares were set to open lower with Dow futures down 1.6% at 33,048.00. S&P 500 futures fell 1.7% to 4,252.00.

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 3.9% to 21,057.63, while South Korea’s Kospi slipped 2.3% to 2,651.31. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 1.0% to 7,038.60. The Shanghai Composite lost 2.2% to 3,372.86.