Sensex Skids 581 Points Amid Weak Global Cues, Nifty Ends At 17,110

New Delhi: The Indian equity benchmarks on Thursday made a last hour recovery, thanks to banking and auto stocks and bounced back after sliding as much as 1,419 points intraday due to weak global cues.

The BSE Sensex later settled at 57,276, 581 points lower, while the NSE Nifty tanked 167 points to 17,110. Fag-end buying in index heavyweights such as Axis Bank, SBI, Kotak Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Maruti Suzuki helped the 30-share BSE Sensex recoup some of the losses on Thursday.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap index drop over 1 per cent, while the BSE Smallcap index skid 0.8 per cent.

HCL Tech was the top loser in the Sensex pack, dropping over 4 per cent, followed by Tech Mahindra Dr Reddy’s, Wipro, TCS, Titan, and Infosys.

On the other hand, Axis Bank, SBI, Maruti, and Kotak Bank were among the top gainers.

The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday indicated that there is ample room to raise interest rates to fight inflation.

In its latest policy update, the central bank indicated that it is likely to raise US interest rates in March and reaffirmed plans to end its bond purchases before launching a significant reduction in its asset holdings. Investors expected as many as four rate hikes this year.

Investors fear foreign capital outflows from emerging markets like India after rate hikes in the US.

Other Asian bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Tokyo ended sharply lower on the hawkish Fed stance.

Stock exchanges in Europe were also largely trading in the red in mid-session deals.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.16 per cent to $89.82 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital markets, pulling out Rs 7,094.48 crore Tuesday, according to provisional data.

Meanwhile, registering its third straight session of loss, the Indian rupee on Thursday depreciated by 30 paise to close at 75.08 (provisional) against the US dollar, tracking the strength of the American currency after a hawkish US Fed policy stance.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 75.18 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 75.07 and a low of 75.31 during the session, according to PTI.

The rupee finally settled at 75.08, down by 30 paise over its previous close.

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