Stock Market: Sensex Tanks 1,416 Points, Nifty Ends Below 15,850; IT, Metal Stocks Drag

Stock Update: On the BSE, except ITC, Dr Reddy’s, and PowerGrid, all the constituents are in the red. ITC was the top gainer, up 3.43 per cent, followed by DRL and PowerGrid

New Delhi: The key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday tumbled sharply amid a global sell-off. Apart from the Indian market, overseas markets also roiled.

The domestic indices crashed, mirroring a weak trend in Asian stocks after an overnight decline in Wall Street, the worst since mid-2020.

The 30-share BSE Sensex crashed 1,416 points (2.6 per cent) to finish at 52,792, while the broader NSE Nifty closed at 15,809, down 431 points (2.65 per cent).

On the BSE, except ITC, Dr Reddy’s, and PowerGrid, all the constituents are in the red. ITC was the top gainer, up 3.43 per cent, followed by DRL and PowerGrid.

On the flipside, Wipro, HCL Tech, Infosys, TCS, TechM, and others were the top laggards. Wipro have lost the most, shedding 6.21 per cent.

Investors' wealth tumbled around Rs 7 lakh crore to Rs 249.06 lakh crore on Thursday's session.

Midcap and smallcap shares finished on a weak note as Nifty Midcap 100 tumbled 2.99 per cent and smallcap slumped 2.68 per cent.

All of the 15 sector gauges, compiled by the National Stock Exchange, settled in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty IT and Nifty Metal underperformed the index by falling as much as 5.74 per cent and 4.08 per cent, respectively.

Barring Shanghai, other Asian markets ended lower, with Seoul, Hong Kong and Tokyo settling in the red.

Equity exchanges in Europe were also trading sharply lower in the afternoon session.

Stock markets in the US had ended deep in the red on Wednesday.

"US markets saw the worst sell-off since June 2020 as inflation fear looms," said Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.29 per cent to $107.7 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth a net Rs 1,254.64 crore on Wednesday, as per stock exchange data.

"Deteriorating macro sentiments such as soaring inflation, recession fears, and the prospect of the Federal Reserve getting even more hawkish will continue to keep benchmarks on the edge. Another main reason for the pessimism can be attributed to relentless selling from the FII camp," said Prashanth Tapse, Vice President (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head of Research, HDFC Securities, said, "Indian markets tumbled more than 2.5 per cent on weekly derivative expiry day on weak global cues."