Indian stock markets witnessed huge selling pressure on Tuesday, i.e. September 17, as a depreciating rupee and fears of geopolitical tensions after the attack on Saudi Arabia’s crude oil facilities spooked investor sentiment.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex closed down 642 points, or 1.7%, at 36,481.09, while the Nifty 50 index fell 185.90 points, or 1.69%, to 10,817.60. Here are the 10 things you should about Tuesday’s selloff:
– All the sectoral indices ended in the red, with the auto, realty and metal indices being the top losers.
– The broader market performance was also largely in-line the benchmark indices, with both BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ending with losses of 1.8% each.
– The Nifty Banking index fell 723 points, its biggest single-day fall in over two months, and turned negative on the year-to-date basis for 2019.
– The Nifty IT index reversed it two-day gaining streak and fell despite weakening rupee on heavy all-round selling.
– Among the major losers were Hero Motocorp (down 6.2%), Tata Motors (down 5.1%), Axis Bank (down 4.6%), Tata Steel (down 4.6%) and Maruti Suzuki (down 4.4%), while gainers included HUL (up 0.8%), Asian Paints (0.6%) and Infosys (0.4%).
– India’s volatility index surged over 7% to close above the level of 16.
– Shares of oil marketing companies IOC, BPCL and HPCL declined 3-4% as Brent crude oil prices hit $69/barrel levels.
– Tuesday’s decline turned both the Sensex and Nifty negative year-to-date for 2019, down nearly 0.4%.
– The Indian rupee was trading near the day’s low at 71.90 against the dollar in late afternoon trade, down 41 paise from yesterday’s closing. It had touched an intra-day low of 71.97.
– Gold prices were little changed as traders largely remained on the sidelines, awaiting a widely expected cut in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve this week.
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Source: News18