Sensex plunges 424 points to close at 36,546, Nifty down 126 points; Tata Motors shares fall 17%

Mumbai: BSE benchmark Sensex plummeted over 424 points on Friday led by a sharp selloff in metal and auto stocks amid negative cues from the global markets on renewed concerns over the US-China trade tiff. The 30-share index cracked 424.61 points, or 1.15 percent, to finish at 36,546.48, while the broader NSE Nifty slumped 125.80 points, or 1.14 percent to 10,943.60. Sudden selling in metal and auto counters led to a sharp drop at the fag end of the session, traders said. Tata Motors was the biggest loser on Sensex, cracking 17.93 percent, after the auto major reported its biggest-ever quarterly net loss of Rs 26,960.8 crore for the December quarter, hit by one-time asset impairment in its struggling British arm Jaguar Land Rover. [caption id=“attachment_5263731” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representative image. Reuters[/caption] Other losers included Vedanta, Tata Steel, NTPC, ONGC, L&T, M&M, Coal India, Maruti, PowerGrid, Axis Bank, ITC and HDFC, dropping up to 5.75 percent. On the other hand, Kotak Bank, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech, Bajaj Finance and Hero MotoCorp rose up to 0.95 percent. The BSE Metal index plunged 3.42 percent, while the auto gauge shed 3.37 percent. Sectorally, FMCG, banking and pharma indices also ended in the red. Realty was the only gainer. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 418.01 crore on Thursday, and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 294.11 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed. On the global front, fears of an economic slowdown resurfaced after US President Donald Trump said he does not expect to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping before the March 1 deadline in trade war negotiations between the two superpowers. A top White House adviser on Thursday said Washington and Beijing were still a “sizeable distance” apart in the trade talks, and no date has been set for a meeting between the countries’ leaders. Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.87 percent lower on Thursday. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei cracked 2.19 percent, while Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.20 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.16 percent. In the Eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAX was down 0.10 percent, while Paris CAC 40 rose 0.12 percent in late morning deals. London’s FTSE was up 0.19 percent. The rupee, meanwhile, appreciated 32 paise against the US dollar to 71.13 intra-day. The benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.28 percent to USD 61.80 per barrel.