Sensex, Nifty tank over 1% on weak global cues

Mumbai: Benchmark BSE Sensex tumbled by nearly 821 points or more than one per cent and broader Nifty plunged below 23,900 level on Tuesday due to heavy selling in banking, power and auto shares and sluggish global trends.The 30-share Sensex tumbled 820.97 points or 1.03 per cent to settle at 78,675.18 with 25 of its constituents ending lower and five higher. During the day, it plunged 948.31 points or 1.19 per cent to 78,547.84. Falling for the fourth day running, the NSE Nifty tanked 257.85 points or 1.07 per cent to close at 23,883.45. As many as 46 Nifty stocks closed lower and four higher. Investors’ wealth eroded by Rs5.29 lakh crore to Rs437.24 lakh crore ($5.18 trn).

Vinod Nair, head (research), Geojit Financial Services said: “FII-triggered selling pressure continued to impact the domestic market. The recent strengthening of the dollar, driven by aggressive ‘Trumponomics’ is adding fears.”

The BSE smallcap gauge tanked 1.26 per cent and midcap index declined by 0.98 per cent.

Ajit Mishra, Sr V-P (research), Religare Broking Ltd, said: “The markets remained under pressure, shedding over a per cent, extending the ongoing correction phase. Despite an initial uptick, Nifty witnessed sharp swings in the first half before selling pressure in heavyweight stocks shifted the momentum downward.”

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs2,306.88 crore on Monday, while domestic institutional investors infused Rs2,026.63 crore in shares, according to exchange data.

Analysts said investors also turned cautious ahead of inflation and IIP data which were released after market hours.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, NTPC, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, Tata Motors, JSW Steel, Maruti and Power Grid were among the major laggards. On the other hand, Sun Pharma, Infosys and ICICI Bank were the gainers.

Official data released on Tuesday showed retail inflation rose to 6.21 per cent in October from 5.49 per cent in the preceding month mainly due to higher food prices, breaching the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) upper tolerance level.