Sensex sinks 769 points, Nifty below 16,250; Titan, Maruti fall 5%, IT stocks up
Equity markets see-sawed in trade on Friday as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine escalated, with Russian forces attacking and seizing control over Europe’s largest nuclear power plant earlier today.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex opened with a 450-point cut and extended the losses to hit a low of 53,888, down 1,215 points intra-day. It, however, recovered partially and closed 769 points, or 1.4 per cent, down at 54,334.
The NSE Nifty, on the other hand, hit an intra-day low of 16,134 but recouped losses to end at 16,243, down 255 points or 1.5 per cent.
Maruti Suzuki tumbled another 4.7 per cent today, falling over 10 per cent in two days. The stock was the second biggest laggard on the Nifty50 index. Titan Company, Hero MotoCorp, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, HUL, Coal India, M&M, Hindalco, JSW Steel, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, and Eicher Motors were the other draggers, cracking between 3 and 5 per cent.
On the upside, Dr Reddy’s Labs, ITC, Tech M, BPCL, Sun Pharma, Ultratech Cement, and Wipro gained in the range of 1 to 3 per cent.
In the broader market, the BSE MidCap index declined 2.3 per cent with individual stocks such as Vodafone Idea, IRCTC, Jubilant Food, Info Edge, Zee Entertainment, Varun Beverages, and Indian Hotel falling up to 7 per cent.
The BSE SmallCap index, meanwhile, settled 1.3 per cent lower dragged by Power India, Vadilal Industries, MCX, Carborundum Universal, and KBC Global.
Sectorally, only the Nifty IT index eked out gain on the NSE, rising 0.14 per cent. The Nifty Auto index was the worst hit index today for a second straight day as it ended 3.3 per cent down today. All other remaining indices fell between 1 and 3 per cent.