Closing Bell: Sensex tanks 709 points, Nifty closes at 15,413

Indian equity benchmarks plunged into the negative
territory on Wednesday after a two-day breather, the BSE Sensex falling 709.54
points following weak trends in global markets. Continuous foreign fund outflows also impacted the bourses
negatively.

The BSE Sensex tumbled 709.54 points or 1.35% to settle at
51,822.53. During the day, it declined 792.09 points or 1.50% to 51,739.98. The NSE Nifty tanked 225.50 points or 1.44% to close at
15,413.30.

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The broader indices ended in red with the BSE Mid cap index
falling 1.53%, while the Small cap index was down by 1.11%. On the sectoral
front, Metal was down by 4.96%, Basic Materials down by 2.67%, Realty down by
2.24%, Energy down by 2.24%, Power down by 2.11%, while there were no gaining
sectoral indices on the BSE.

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Major losers from the Sensex pack were Tata Steel down by
5.24%, Wipro down by 3.29%, Reliance down by 3.07%, IndusInd Bank down by
2.67%, HCL down by 2.61%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.41%, Bajaj Finance down by
2.01%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.98%, ITC down by 1.76% and Bharti Airtel down by
1.61%.

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Among the gainers were TCS up by 0.31%, HUL up by 0.18%,
Power Grid Corp up by 0.05%, and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.01%.

The rupee declined by 27 paise to a record low of 78.40
against the US dollar.

In Asian markets, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo
ended lower. European stock markets were also trading lower in the
afternoon session. The US markets recorded solid gains in the overnight
session.

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“Pull-back rallies can be sharp and it was sharp
yesterday. The important question is — will this continue? There is no
economic news, except the softness in crude, to sustain the rally.

“There is no reason for FIIs to change their selling
strategy since the dollar continues to be strong and US bond yields are
attractive and expected to rise further,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief
Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

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The BSE Sensex had surged 934.23 points or 1.81%, while the
NSE Nifty climbed 288.65 points or 1.88% on Tuesday.

Brent crude, the international oil benchmark fell 4.19% to
$109.8 per barrel.

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According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional
investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, as they sold
shares worth Rs 2,701.21 crore on Tuesday.