Sensex, Nifty tumble over 1.30% on selling across the board

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty slumped over one per cent on Tuesday, weighed down by an across-the-board selloff amid cautious investors approach ahead of the US Fed interest rate decision. Besides, the continued flight of foreign capital from Indian markets amid a negative global market trend also affected the sentiment, traders said.

Falling for the second day in a row, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex tanked 1,064.12 points or 1.30 per cent to sink below the 81,000 level at 80,684.45. During the day, it slumped 1,136.37 points or 1.39 per cent to 80,612.20. As many as 2,442 stocks declined, while 1,576 advanced and 89 remained unchanged on the BSE. The NSE Nifty tumbled 332.25 points or 1.35 per cent to 24,336. “Widespread pessimism prevails across all sectors ahead of key policy decisions from the US Fed, BoJ (Bank of Japan), and BoE (Bank of England). While the market has already factored in a 25-bps cut from the US Fed, it remains vigilant for any hawkish signals. The BoJ and BoE are largely expected to maintain their current rates for the year,” said Vinod Nair, Head (research), Geojit Financial Services. The rupee has depreciated to an all-time low, and a record-high trade deficit is exacerbating the pressure, he added.

From the 30-share blue-chip pack, all firms ended in the red.Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, JSW Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, Asian Paints, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank were the biggest laggards.

“The decline came amid weak FII volumes and heightened caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting, which is expected to provide cues on the trajectory of interest rate cuts going ahead. Investors will watch out for US retail sales data,” said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. All sectoral indices ended lower.

Mkt crash evaporates Rs5-trn investors’ wealth

Investors’ wealth tumbled Rs4.92 lakh crore on Tuesday amid a sharp sell-off in the equity market.The market capitalisation (mcap) of BSE-listed firms eroded by Rs4,92,644.06 crore to Rs4,55,13,913.24 crore (Rs455.14 lakh cr or $5.36 trn)