The sell-off across sectors has pushed the equity benchmarks further down. The 50-share NSE Niftyplunged 100 points to 5,033 and the 30-share BSESensex lost 328 points to 16,737.
Federal Reserve flagged "significant downside risks" to the economy on the last day of FOMC meeting yesterday. Also, Moody's Investors Service cut debt ratings on financial companies like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citi.
Asian markets were witnessing heavy sell-off. Hang Seng crashed 4%. Kospi and Taiwan lost 3% each. Nikkei slipped 2%. Shanghai and Straits Times were down 1.7% each.
Sharp fall in European futures too were pointing weak start to the European opening; France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were down 2-4%.
On the home turf, the BSE Realty, Metal, Auto, Bank and Capital Goods indices fell 2-2.6%. Power, IT, Oil & Gas and FMCG indices dropped 1-1.6%.
Heavyweights Reliance Industries, Bharti, TCS, SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and L&T plunged 2-3%. However, BPCL bucked the trend; gained 1.5% on fall in crude oil prices. Nymex Crude was trading around USD 84 a barrel.
Market breadth too worsened; about five shares declined for every share gaining.
At 10:09 hours IST : Nifty slips over 1.5% on broad-based selling
The market extended losses on the back of broad-based selling, reacting to sharp fall in global markets after Fed signaled that there were downside risks to US economy. The 50-share NSE Nifty lost 86 points to 5,047 and the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 273 points to 16,791.
If Sandeep Bhatia, executive director and head of sales, Kotak Institutional Equities is to be believed, the fall can be sharper. "Since 2008, the market has only seen infusion of liquidity. There could be further downside to our market. It can trade down to 15,000 in October as it has been a historically bad month," he said.
Among Asian markets, Hang Seng, Kospi and Taiwan crashed 3-4%. Shanghai, Nikkei and Straits Times fell 1.7-2%. The Dow Jones Futures slipped 0.5%.
The Indian rupee was trading at 47.73 per dollar, down 0.41 from previous day's closing value.
Tata Motors, Sterlite Industries, DLF, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Tata Power, SAIL and Reliance Communications were top gainers among largecaps. These stocks gained 3-4%.
However, BPCL and ONGC were marginally in the green.
India Securities, SBI, Tree House, Stride Arcolab, Tata Steel, L&T, Reliance Industries and Tata Motors were most active shares on exchanges.
About 518 shares advanced as against 1381 shares declined on BSE.
At 9:19 hours IST : Sensex plunges over 250 pts on global sell-off; Re @ 48.8
The Federal Reserve in its meeting yesterday said there was "significant downside risks" to the economy. This weighed heavy on the Indian equity benchmarks, which fell 1.7% in opening trade.
At 9:18 hours IST, the 50-share NSE Nifty tanked 87 points to 5,046 and the 30-share BSE Sensextumbled 276 points to 16,790, led by fall in metal, technology, financial and ADAG stocks.
Technology stocks plunged 2-3% despite rupee falling over 1% from previous day's closing value to 48.8 per dollar.
Sterlite, Sesa Goa, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Reliance Communications, Reliance Infra, Reliance Capital, TCS, Wipro, HCL Tech, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, Reliance Industries, L&T, DLF and Ambuja Cements were witnessing selling pressure.
The CNX Midcap fell 95 points to 7,372. About 8 shares declined for every share rising.
Mundra Port plunged 5%. IVRCL, HDIL, Punj Lloyd and JSW Steel were down 2.5-3.5%.
However, Everonn Education was locked at 5% upper circuit for seventh consecutive session.
Global cues
Asian markets were trading sharply lower. Hang Seng, Kospi and Taiwan plunged 3-4%. Shanghai, Nikkei and Straits Times were down over 1.5%.
