Sensex falls over 1000 points, Nifty below 10,200, rupee hits record low

Team Udayavani, Oct 11, 2018, 10:19 AM IST

Mumbai: Benchmark BSE Sensex on Thursday crashed over 1,030 points to slip below the key 34,000-mark in early trade, tracking a global sell-off as the rupee hit yet another record low of 74.45 against the US dollar.

Traders attributed the carnage in domestic bourses to the sell-off in international bourses after US stocks tumbled on heavy correction in tech stocks, fresh concerns over Fed rate hike and looming impact of the US’ trade war with China.

Rising 10-year US treasury bonds, jumping above 3 per cent last week and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) slashing its global growth forecast and weakness in emerging markets, too spooked investors.

The 30-share BSE Sensex, which had gained 461.42 points Wednesday, slipped below the 34,000-mark by crashing 1,030.40 points, or 2.95 per cent, to 33,730.49 in opening trade.

The broader Nifty slipped below the 10,200-mark by tumbling 281.70 points, or 2.69 per cent, to 10,178.70.

Widespread selling pulled down all sectoral indices led by realty, IT, metal and banking, that fell up to 3.66 per cent.

Top laggards include SBI, Tata Steel, Infosys, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Yes Bank, Maruti Suzuki, HUL, TCS, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Adani Ports, Wipro, Tata Motors, ITC, Coal India, Bajaj Auto, L&T, Sun Pharma IndusInd Bank and M&M, dropping up to 3.99 per cent.

In the forex market, the rupee slumped by 24 paise to an all-time low of 74.45 against the dollar due to heavy demand for the US currency from importers.

Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth a net of Rs 1,096 crore on Wednesday, provisional data showed.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei plunged 3.41 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 3.53 per cent, Singapore exchange was down 2.64 per cent and the Korean bourse fell 2.28 per cent in late morning deals.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 3.15 per cent Wednesday, its biggest fall since February.