New Delhi: The stock market continued to display deflated enthusiasm in late trade on Tuesday and wiped out all gains of the previous week with the Sensex falling more than 600 points.
The Nifty breached 10,850 levels after six trading sessions and turned negative for 2019. The broader markets were also caught in the bear trap with the Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices losing a per cent each.
At 14:47 hrs, Sensex was down 632 points at 36599.55, while the Nifty50 fell 175.90 points or 1.6 per cent to 10,827.60 as market breadth remained in favour of bears. About two shares declined for every share rising on the BSE.
The fall is being attributed to the September 14 attack on two Saudi Aramco plants at the heart of the kingdom’s oil industry, including the world’s biggest petroleum processing facility.
The attack on the two plants — Abqaiq oil processing facility and Khurais oil field — resulted in a temporary shortage of 5.7 million barrels per day which is 5 per cent of the global crude supply, or 50 per cent, of the kingdom’s oil output.
The drone attack hit 5 per cent of world’s oil production. As a result, crude oil prices rose nearly 20 per cent in a day to near $72 a barrel intraday on Monday, though it erased some gains later in the day.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, traded around $69 a barrel, which is still looked like elevated levels for a country like India that imports more than 85 percent of oil requirement.
The Indian rupee also weakened sharply since the beginning of the week, falling 96 paise in two straight sessions and moving towards Rs 72 against the US dollar amid rising demand for the greenback vis-a-vis other currencies overseas and concerns over soaring crude prices following drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities.
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Source: News18