Sensex Closes Below 383 Points, Nifty Under 17,100 Amid Ukraine-Russia Turmoil

New Delhi: The key benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, on Tuesday extended their losing streak for the fifth straight session led by geo-political tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

The benchmark BSE Sensex declined 383 points to close at 57,301; while the broader NSE Nifty moved 114 points lower to end at 17,092. The frontline S&P BSE Sensex had crashed nearly 1,300 points intra-day but recouped most of the losses.

Among these 16 stocks, M&M, Eicher Motors, Hindalco, Bajaj Finserv, Hero Moto, ONGC, Kotak Bank, HDFC, and Cipla led from the front, rising between 0.5 per cent and 1.7 per cent.

On the flipside, BPCL, TCS, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, SBI Life, SBI, Dr Reddy's, Bharti Airtel, and Indian Oil reeled under pressure and fell up to 4 per cent.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices, which had fell up to 2.5 per cent intra-day, settled 0.7 per cent and 1.6 per cent lower, respectively.

Sectorally, all the key indices ended with losses. The Nifty Realty index was the worst hit, down 3 per cent, followed by the Nifty Pharma, IT, Metal, and Bank indices, down between 1 and 1.5 per cent.

All of the 15 sector gauges, compiled by the National Stock Exchange, settled in the red. Nifty PSU and Nifty Metal underperformed the index by falling as much as 1.48 per cent and 1.11 per cent, respectively.

"Escalations in Ukraine tensions with Russia recognising two pro-Russian rebel regions have aggravated the crisis. The economic consequences are already visible in higher crude and gold prices," V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Financial Services, told PTI.

The India VIX index also climbed 19 per cent to over 27-levels.

In the previous session, Sensex had dropped 149 points to close at 57,684 on Monday; while Nifty had settled 70 points lower at 17,207.

Asian share markets also slumped as Japan’s Nikkei fell 2.34 per cent, South Korea’s KOSPI was down 1.72 per cent and the Shanghai Composite index dropped 1.36 per cent.

Meanwhile, rising for the fifth straight day, the rupee extended gains by 11 paise to close at a one-month high of 74.55 against the US dollar on Monday on the back of a weak dollar and softer crude oil prices amid hopes of a diplomatic solution to the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

Tracking the Ukraine crisis, Brent crude futures rose 4 per cent to $97.35, the highest since September 2014. US stocks fell over 2 per cent on Tuesday.