Indian equity benchmark Sensex crashed 769 points on Friday following a weak trend in global equities amid rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
Extending the losses for the third straight session, the 30-share BSE index slumped 1,214.96 points to 53,887.71 during the session after a weak start, It finally closed 768.87 points or 1.40% down at 54,333.81. On a similar note, the broader NSE Nifty plunged 252.70 points or 1.53% to close at 16,245.
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Among sectoral indices, except IT and pharma all other indices ended in the red with auto, metals, power, capital goods, realty down over 2-3%. BSE midcap index shed 2.3% and smallcap index fell 1.6%.
The top laggards in the Sensex pack was Titan dropping 5.05%, followed by Maruti Suzuki down by 4.66%, Asian Paints down by 4.61%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.90 and Hindustan Unilever down by 3.43%.
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Among the gainers were Dr Reddy’s Labs up by 2.95%, ITC by 2.78%, Tech Mahindra by 1.84%, Ultratech Cement by 1.14%, Sun Pharma by 1.08% and Wipro by 0.96%.
Asian market bourses in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo ended significantly lower.
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US stock exchanges closed in red in the overnight trend.
Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.80% to USD 111.3 per barrel.
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According to the stock exchange data, foreign institutional investors continued their selling spree in Indian markets as they offloaded shares worth Rs 6,644.65 crore on a net basis on Thursday.
The rupee slipped 22 paise to close at 76.16 (provisional) against the US dollar.