New Delhi, 19 March (H.S.): Indian equities suffered a cataclysmic reversal Thursday, extinguishing three days of brisk gains as surging global crude prices, tepid international cues, and FII divestments precipitated across-the-board carnage, with Sensex cascading 2,496.89 points (3.26%) to 74,207.24 after plumbing intraday depths of 2,753.18 (73,950.95), and Nifty plummeting 775.65 points (3.26%) to 23,002.15 from a 847.45-point trough (22,930.35)—Nifty's fiercest single-session drubbing since June 2024.
Every one of Nifty's 16 sectoral indices closed crimson: automobiles cratered 4.25%, banking 3.39%, consumer durables 3.38%, IT 3.31%, metals 3.21%, alongside capital goods, FMCG, healthcare, oil & gas, PSEs, and tech; midcaps sagged 3.19%, smallcaps 2.49%. BSE market capitalization vaporized ₹11.62 lakh crore to ₹427.38 lakh crore (provisional) from Wednesday's ₹439 lakh crore.Sensex gaped down 1,953.21 points at 74,750.92 open, clawing a fleeting 600-point rebound to 75,354.18 before relentless liquidation overwhelmed sporadic buying; Nifty debuted 580.05 points lower at 23,197.75, grazed 23,378.70 then capitulated. BSE tallied 4,404 active stocks (1,070 advancers, 3,174 decliners, 160 unchanged); NSE 2,963 traded (379 gainers, 2,584 losers)—Sensex's 30 constituents uniformly red, Nifty's sole green shoot ONGC (+1.55%), headlined by Shriram Finance (-7.03%), Eternal (-5.69%), Bajaj Finance (-5.44%), HDFC Bank (-5.32%), M&M (-5.26%).
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
