Bloodbath on Dalal Street: Sensex crashes nearly 1,300 points, Nifty plunges 350 points as selloff continues

Sensex, Nifty tank over 3 percent in opening trade in line with deep losses in world markets; Sensex crashes below 34,000 level. The markets tumbled today the Sensex and Nifty registering the biggest fall at 3.5 percent since August 2015. The BSE Sensex fell almost 1250.38 points to 33506.78 points. The Nifty dropped 350 points to 10343. Extending its falling streak for the sixth straight session, the 30-share index fell by 1,274.35 points, or 3.66 percent, to 33,482.81 with all sectoral indices led by realty, consumer durables, metal and banking tradings in the negative zone. The index had lost 1,526 points in the previous five sessions after its remarkable over 2,200-point gain in January month. Also, the broader NSE Nifty cracked below 10,300-mark by falling 390.25 points, or 3.65 per cent to 10,276.30. [caption id=“attachment_4335717” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] Market sentiment took a beating in line with sharp losses at other Asian markets after a record-breaking loss on Wall Street after investors fret over rising US borrowing costs, brokers said. The US Dow suffered its deepest fall in history, erasing all of its 2018 gains, while the S&P 500 took a beating to sit down for the year yesterday. Asian markets followed the trend with Tokyo diving more than 5 percent, Hong Kong 4 percent and Sydney 3 percent, Singapore 2.3 percent, Seoul 3 percent, Taipei 3.7 percent, and Shanghai 2.1 percent. The heavy profit-booking comes after months of surges fuelled by corporate earnings, global outlook and optimism over the US economy. In domestic markets, caution ahead of RBI monetary policy meeting which begins later in the day and the rupee depreciating by 29 paise to 64.36 against the dollar too dampened the sentiment, brokers said. Strong selling pressure dragged down all the Sensex and the Nifty components. Foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 1,263.57 crore in yesterday’s trade, as per provisional data. The laggards include Tata Motors, Yes Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, Asian Paint,Tata Steel, Adani Ports, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki, L&T and Hero MotoCorp, plunged by up to 7.55 percent.   (With PTI inputs)