Sensex crashes 867 points, Nifty settles below 16,450-mark amid weak global cues

Stock Market Today, Share Market Updates: The benchmark equity indices on the BSE and National Stock Exchange (NSE) settled over 1.5 per cent lower on Friday tracking weakness in the global market as investors fretted that fast-paced interest rate hikes to tame surging inflation would slow global economic growth.

The S&P BSE Sensex crashed 866.65 points (1.56 per cent) to end at 54,835.58 while the Nifty 50 fell 271.40 points (1.63 per cent) to settle at 16,411.25. Both the indices had opened with sharp cuts earlier in the day with the Sensex slipping to an intraday low of 54,586.75 and the broader Nifty touching 16,340.90.

On the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finance was the top loser of the day falling nearly 5 per cent. It was followed by Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle India, Wipro, Infosys, Ultratech Cement, Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) and HDFC Bank. In contrast, Tech Mahindra, Power Grid Corporation of India, ITC, State Bank of India (SBI), NTPC and Tata Steel were the top gainers.

All the sectoral indices on NSE ended in the red with the Nifty IT index falling 2.27 per cent weighed by Coforge, L&T Technology Services and Larsen & Toubro Infotech. Likewise, the key Bank Nifty too slipped 1.82 per cent dragged by Axis Bank, The Federal Bank and HDFC Bank.

In the broader markets, the S&P BSE MidCap ended at 23,129.61, down 485.63 points (2.06 per cent) while the S&P BSE SmallCap settled at 27,092.41, down 581.56 points (2.10 per cent). On NSE, the volatility index or India VIX rose 4.71 per cent to 21.2500.

“A steep crash in the US stocks as the market evaluated the need for a higher rate hike to tame elevated inflation levels wounded global markets with heavy selling. The Bank of England while raising its interest rates, warned about a possible risk of recession, aggravating investor fears. This period of volatility is the time for smart money to look for opportunities with buy-in-dip as the strategy with a focus on sectors that are expected to be least impacted by inflation & yield rise,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.