The benchmark Sensex on Thursday sunk 350 points to end below the 26,000-mark after a gap of two months on heavy bout of selling in the second half, tracking turbulence in Europe due to global growth worries.
Besides, the rupee depreciated against the dollar to 61.90 (intra-day) on fears of capital outflows and trade deficit widening to a 18-month high in September.
The Sensex, which had lost 34.74 points on Tuesday, nosedived by 349.99 points, or 1.33 per cent, to end at 25,999.34, its weakest closing since August 13.
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Intra-day, the 30-share index touched day’s high of 26,462.08 on continued weakness in global crude price and exit polls showing the BJP is gaining in Maharashtra and Haryana polls. However, a late sell-off in line with global markets, pulled it down to hit a low of 25,933.98.
All the BSE sectoral indices led by consumer durables, power and metal finally ended in the negative zone racking up losses of up to 4.25 per cent. Just four stocks ended in green in the Sensex while 26 counters fell.
On similar lines, the broad-based Nifty of the National Stock Exchange cracked the 7,800-mark by falling 115.80 points, or 1.47 per cent, to close at 7,748.20. The gauge moved between 7,893.90 and 7,729.65.
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Overall, more than 2,100 stocks closed down while about 750 shares ended higher on the BSE.
“Negative global cues and weak macro-economic data pushed the benchmark indices deep in red,” said Jayant Manglik, President-retail distribution, Religare Securities.
Major Sensex losers include RIL, Mahindra and Mahindra, L&T, Infosys, ICICI Bank, SBI, ONGC, HDFC Ltd, HDFC Bank, Dr Reddys, Bharti Airtel and Tata Power.
European stock markets tumbled over 2 per cent after poor US data raised concerns that the US economy while continued eurozone’s woes and China’s slowdown weighed on sentiment.
Stocks of Bajaj Auto fell 1.72 per cent after the firm reported 29 per cent drop in net profit for September quarter.
In the metal space, Hindalco suffered the most by tumbling over 5.4 per cent, followed by Sesa Sterlite by 4 per cent and Tata Steel down 3.57 per cent.
Sectorwise, BSE Consumer Durables index suffered the most by falling 4.10 per cent, followed by Power index by 2.94 per cent. Metal index plunged 2.51 per cent and Capital Goods index 2.23 per cent also fell sharply.