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| Edited By: |Source: PTI |Updated: Mar 30, 2018, 02:21 AM IST
The benchmark Sensex plunged 423 points to hit a one-month low today as funds resorted to heavy selling in blue-chip stocks led by capital goods, power and PSUs, weighed down by fears of China further tightening its monetary policy.
The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer, which had lost 166 points in the last two trading sessions alone, plunged further by 423.35 points to 17,051.14, marking its biggest fall this year.
Followed poor Wall Street and Asian cues, the Sensex opened with 123 points down and touched the day's low of 17,025.26 during the day. This is the third consecutive fall for the market this week. The wide-based NSE Nifty 50 too broke two key levels of 5,200 and 5,100 points and closed with a hefty loss of 127.55 points to 5,094.15. It dipped to 5,085.45 in the session.
With a 5.15 per cent fall to 13,501.46 points, the sector that suffered the most was capital goods, spooked by the poor Q3 results by L&T. The engineering and construction giant tumbled 6.85 per cent following the results.
The second biggest fall was in the power index, which was hammered by 3.47 per cent 3,100.60 points. Tata power was the worst performer with a 4.46 per cent fall. All the Sensex indices ended with heavy to moderate losses. The PSU index shed 2.98 per cent, realty 2.78 per cent and pharma 2.65pc.
The World Bank statement that the Asian economies face the risk of asset bubbles or overheating as the region’s growth outpaces the rest of the world this year, also weighed on the market.
The Sensex leader Reliance Industries dropped 2.22 per cent to Rs1,053.80 and second heaviest counter Infosys shed 1.19 per cent to Rs2,621.20. ICICI Bank tumbled 2.71 per cent to Rs853.35 and L&T which plunged nearly seven percent.
All the above four stocks carry nearly 31 per cent weight on the Sensex. Other interest-related industries such as auto, realty and consumer durables also suffered losses on heavy selling by funds.
As the selling pressure spread over a wide-front, even the Small-cap index lost 2.47 per cent to 8,760.99 while Mid-cap shaved off 2.39 per cent to 6,858.73.
