Stock Market: Sensex Tanks 695 Points, Nifty Closes Below 18,100. HDFC Twins Plunge 6 Per Cent

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, HDFC and HDFC Bank, down up to 6 per cent each, followed by IndusInd Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Kotak Bank, Bajaj Finserv, and others

Another Black Friday for the stock market as two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, today plunged due to heavy selling pressure in index heavyweights after report suggested that MSCI has decided to use an adjustment factor of 0.5 while computing the weightage of the merged entity.

The S&P BSE Sensex tanked to a low of 61,002 towards the fag end of the trading session, while finally closed with a significant loss of 695 points at 61,054. On the other hand, the Nifty 50 lost 187 points at 18,069.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, HDFC and HDFC Bank, down up to 6 per cent each, followed by IndusInd Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Kotak Bank, Bajaj Finserv, and others. On the flipside, Titan, UltraCemco, Maruti, Nestle, ITC, Asian Paints, L&T emerged winners.

The overall breadth was negative, with more than 2,000 stocks declining on the BSE, as against 1,500 advancing shares.

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap index was down 0.5 per cent while the Smallcap index slipped 0.4 per cent.

Among specific stocks, Manappuram Finance extended losses and shed another 10.8 per cent after the Enforcement Directorate froze Rs 143 crore worth of assets of the firm’s MD and CEO V P Nandakumar in an ongoing money laundering probe.

In the previous session on Thursday, the BSE benchmark ended 556 points stronger at calendar year’s high at 61,749. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty 50 touched a high of 18,267, before settling with a solid 166-point gain at 18,256.

"The Indian market was dragged down by heavy selling in HDFC twins on fears of post-merger fund outflow. In addition, the cues from global peers were lacklustre as the ECB raised rates by 25 bps and signalled the need for further rate hikes. Wall Street has witnessed prolonged selling pressure due to apprehensions in the banking sector about the strength of regional banks," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

In Asian markets, Shanghai ended lower, while Hong Kong settled in the green. European equity markets were trading higher. The US markets ended lower on Thursday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Thursday also as they bought equities worth Rs 1,414.73 crore, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.59 per cent to $73.65 per barrel.