The stock market ended trading on Monday in a negative territory after bleeding throughout the session. The key equity benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, continued to decline in the day and settled more than 1 per cent lower.
The BSE Sensex closed the session at 76,330, plunging more than 1,000 points, while the NSE Nifty50 index settled for the day at 23,085.95, clocking a fall of close to 350 points.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Axis Bank, TCS, Hindustan Unilever, and IndusInd Bank emerged as the only gainers in the session. On the other hand, Zomato, PowerGrid, Adani Ports, Tata Steel, and NTPC stood among the laggards for the day.
In the broader markets, it was a complete bloodbath. The Nifty Microcap 250 index settled 4.34 per cent lower, followed by the Nifty Next 50 index which tanked 4.32 per cent in the session.
Sectorally, all the sectors ended in red. The Nifty Realty index took a nosedive and ended up close to 6.5 per cent lower in the session.
Rupee Nosedives
This bloodbath in the market was triggered by the surge in crude oil prices and consistent foreign fund outflows. Further, a weak Indian currency weighed down on the sentiment in the market. The Indian rupee clocked its sharpest single-day fall in almost two years and settled the session 58 paise lower. The domestic currency closed at the historic low of 86.62 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 86.12 and hit 86.11 during intraday before settling the session at 86.62 against the greenback.
Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, noted, "The Reserve Bank of India has allowed the fall in rupee's exchange rate versus US dollar amid dwindling forex reserves and declining emerging market currencies. RBI will allow the weakness as demand keeps moving up and supplies dwindle."
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) dumped Indian equities worth Rs 2,254.68 crore on Friday, official exchange data revealed.