New Delhi, 23 March (H.S.):
West Asia war drums and grim global cues triggered pure pandemonium on Dalal Street turning the weeks first trading day into a bloodbath Black Monday with Sensex and Nifty cratering hard wiping out nearly 14 lakh crore rupees from investor wallets in a single savage session.
Sensex shed 1836.57 points or 2.46 percent to slump shut at 72696.39 after plunging as deep as 1974.52 points to 72558.44 intraday. Nifty50 carved out a 601.85-point or 2.60 percent haircut ending at 22512.65 off a brutal 643.25-point low of 22471.25. Late token buying off bottomed lows offered scant mercy.
Markets kicked off wobbly global jitters fueling the slide then buyers flickered briefly only to get steamrolled by fresh sell waves. Midday lifelines faded fast as bears ruled the 3 pm close with every sector drowning red. Consumer durables tanked 4.91 percent metals 4.76 percent banking auto capital goods and oil gas all bled over 3 percent. Midcap index cratered 3.90 percent smallcap 3.94 percent.
BSE market cap vaporized to 415.12 lakh crore from Fridays 429.11 lakh crore – a 13.99 lakh crore investor massacre. Of 4556 BSE stocks traded 3858 ended lower 581 up 117 flat. NSE saw 2827 decliners against 213 gainers Sensex 26 of 30 red Nifty 46 of 50 down.
Top gainers HCL Tech up 1.87 percent Power Grid 1.51 percent Infosys 0.28 percent Tech Mahindra 0.19 percent ONGC 0.02 percent. Biggest losers Shriram Finance minus 6.49 percent Titan 6.17 percent Trent 5.70 percent Jio Financial 5.52 percent UltraTech Cement 5.23 percent. The Budget Session day rout spotlights war risks ripping through markets.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
