Blood-bath on D-St as market sell-off intensifies, Sensex sheds almost 500 points

The BSE Sensex plunged 490 points, marking its seventh straight day of losses. The Nifty slipped 1.56 percent and closed below the psychological 8,550 levels. [caption id=“attachment_1999999” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption]The market selloff was attributed to weak earnings and Delhi exit poll results which showed Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party making a clean sweep. The anti-corruption Aam Aadmi Party, or Common People’s Party, is likely to win 38 seats in the 70-seat New Delhi assembly, according to the average of four opinion polls released on Saturday after the voting had ended. Power stocks led the decline, with Tata Power losing 2.5 per cent on fears that AAP may again lower power tariffs in Delhi like it did in its earlier stint. Reliance Infrastructure fell 8.6 percent. L&T, which reported lower-than-expected Q3 earnings numbers today, fell 6.6 percent while Tata Steel slumped 5.75 percent, Gail India fell 4.6 percent while DLF fell 3.8 percent ahead of its Q3 results. IT stocks bucked the trend due to the weakness in the Rupee. HCL Tech, Wipro and Infosys were the top gainers on the Nifty. Tracking broader markets, the S&P BSE Mid-cap index fell 1.4 percent while the Small-cap index lost 1.5 percent. All sectors traded in the red with BSE Capital Goods, BSE Realty, BSE Metal and BSE Auto falling between 4.3-2.3 percent. With inputs from Agencies.