Markets plunge on rate hike concerns

Mumbai: The BSE gauge Sensex plummeted over 656 points and the NSE Nifty dropped below the key 18,000-mark on Wednesday as global market rout cast a shadow on domestic equities. Starting off on a positive note, the BSE benchmark gave up its early gains and briefly slipped below the psychological 60,000-barrier before closing at 60,098.82, tumbling 656.04 points or 1.08 per cent – its weakest level since January 7. Likewise, the NSE barometer Nifty plunged 174.65 points or 0.96 per cent to close at 17,938.40 as 35 of its stocks closed with losses.

"Globally, risk sentiments took a blow as rising inflation resulting in elevated bond yield along with the on-going geopolitical tensions and surge in oil prices weighed on investor confidence. This along with consistent FII selling forced the domestic market to trade in favour of bears for the second consecutive day," Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

Infosys fell the most among Sensex stocks, declining by 2.77 per cent. Among other major laggards were Asian Paint, HUL, Nestle, Bajaj Finance, Wipro and Kotak Bank –falling as much as 2.71 per cent. On the Sensex, 22 shares suffered losses. Among gainers were SBI, Tata Steel, Maruti, Axis Bank , Tech Mahindra, PowerGrid, M&M and Reliance Industries. In the broader market, BSE Midcap declined by 0.34 per cent, while Smallcap ended almost flat. Sectorally, BSE IT index dropped 1.95 per cent, Teck fell 1.79 per cent, Bankex was down 0.52 per cent and Telecom was 0.97 per cent lower. Market breadth was largely negative as 1,827 stocks out of 3,495 trading stocks declined while 1,579 stocks advanced and 89 ended unchanged on the BSE. Total turnover in the equity segment was Rs6,386.89 crore on the BSE.

Foreign investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the Indian equity markets as they offloaded stocks worth Rs1,254.95 crore on Tuesday, according to stock exchange data. Asian stock markets declined in cautious trading with Tokyo's Nikkei 225 plunging nearly 3 per cent following losses on Wall Street. South Korea's Kospi declined 0.8 per cent, the Shanghai Composite lost 0.3 per cent to 3,558.18. Hong Kong's Hang Seng inched up.