Market mayhem: Sensex crashes over 1,000 points on global sell-off; Rupee inches to 75-mark

Mumbai: The stock markets plunged at the opening with Sensex down 665.45 points or 1.91 percent at 34095.44. Financials dragged Nifty by over 200 points. It traded below the 10,200-mark and was down 266.10 points or 2.54 percent at 10194.

Reliance, ICICI Bank, TCS Infosys were among the top the top losers.

All sectoral indices trade with cuts.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the Rupee opened weak at 74.37 and slipped further to quote at an all-time low of 74.45, depreciating 24 paise against the US dollar in the early trade.

The key Indian equity market indices on Thursday opened lower following a muted trend in global markets.

The Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which had closed at 34,760.89 points on Wednesday, opened lower at 34,063.82 points.

Minutes into trading, it was quoting at 33,891.52 points, down by 869.37 points, or 2.50 percent.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-scrip Nifty, which had closed at 10,460.10 points on Wednesday, was quoting at 10,155.65 points, down by 304.45 points or 2.91 per cent.

Attractive valuations, along with a stable rupee and expectations of a healthy second-quarter earning results, had pushed the key domestic equity indices higher on Wednesday.

Healthy buying in banking, capital goods and automobile stocks, coupled with the hopes of a revival of the non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) enhanced investors’ risk-taking appetite.

The Sensex was up by 461.42 points or 1.35 percent at the Wednesday’s closing. In the day’s trade, the barometer 30-scrip sensitive index had touched a high of 34,858.35 points and a low of 34,346.50 points. The Nifty50 was up by 159.05 points or 1.54 percent.

On Thursday, Asian indices were showing a negative trend. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was quoting in red, down by 4.37 percent while Hang Seng was down by 3.95 percent, South Korea’s Kospi was also down by 3.63 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite index was trading in red, down by 4.74 per cent.

Overnight, Nasdaq closed in red, down by 4.26 percent while FTSE 100 was also down by 1.29 percent at the closing on Wednesday.

--With IANS inputs