Sensex plunges 2,702.15 points; Gold, Crude prices surge upwards

Mumbai, Feb 24 (UNI) The Indian equity market witnessed a bloodbath on Thursday as the Sensex plummeted 2,702 points, below 55K to 54,529.91, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Oil prices broke above $100 a barrel. The Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) slipped 815.30 points to 16,247.95 too. The equity market remained weak for the seventh straight session on Thursday. The day opened in the red as the Sensex crashed 1,814 points to open at 55,418.45. During the day, it dropped 2,849 points to 54,383, the day’s low, before closing at 54,529.91 from its previous close. The Sensex registered the day’s high and low at 55,996.09 and 54,383.20 respectively. The Nifty recorded the day’s high and low at 16,705.25 and 16,203.25 respectively. All the sectoral indices were down, The Realty stocks were worst hit, down over 7 per cent followed by Auto by 6 per cent and Industrials, Finance and Bankex by 5 per cent each. In scrips, IndusInd Bank tumbled 7.88 per cent to Rs 875.80, a major loser, followed by M & M by 6.34 per cent to Rs 795.85, Bajaj Finance by 6.02 per cent to Rs 6,626.10, Axis Bank by 5.99 per cent to Rs 730.65 and Tech Mahindra by 5.75 per cent to Rs 1,332.70. The Mid Cap declined by 5.53 per cent and Small Cap by 5.77 per cent. All 30 scrips were in the red. Benchmark indices recorded their fourth-worst point-wise fall in history on Thursday. Meanwhile, Commodities markets have spurted with Brent oil extending gains above $100 a barrel (at $105 now) for the first time since 2014. Even, the yellow metal (gold) jumped as investors scrambled for havens. The monthly F&O expiry also impacted the session. European stocks too slid 3 per cent on Thursday as investors dumped riskier assets after Russia attacked Ukraine. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 2.9 per cent – hitting its lowest since May 2021. The German DAX too shed more than 3 per cent, bearing the biggest brunt of the sell-off on fears over the country’s heavy reliance on energy supplies from Russia.