New Delhi, 24 September (H.S.): Indian equity markets ended sharply lower on Thursday, the fourth trading day of the week, amid a surge in international crude oil prices. The benchmark BSE Sensex plunged 1,248 points, while the NSE Nifty declined 384 points. For both key indices, it was the steepest single-day fall since July 8.

At the close of trading, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 1,247.71 points, or 1.67 per cent, to settle at 73,580.54. During the session, the index had at one point declined 1,264.33 points to 73,563.92.

The NSE Nifty also fell 383.70 points, or 1.64 per cent, to close at 23,063.10.

As many as 29 of the 30 Sensex constituents ended lower. Bajaj Finance recorded the steepest decline at 5.47 per cent, followed by Axis Bank at 4.67 per cent, Bajaj Finserv at 4.06 per cent, InterGlobe Aviation at 2.78 per cent, Trent at 2.75 per cent and Mahindra & Mahindra at 2.31 per cent. NTPC closed unchanged.

Among other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei ended higher, while China’s Shanghai SSE Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed lower. Major European equity markets were also trading with a negative bias in afternoon deals.

The rupee weakened by 23 paise against the US dollar to provisionally settle at 95.96 per dollar.

Meanwhile, shares of National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. gained nearly 2 per cent to close at Rs 1,818 on their first day of trading. Following the rise, NSE’s market valuation stood at Rs 4.49 lakh crore.

According to analysts, investor sentiment was weighed down by rising crude oil prices and a weak global trend, along with selling pressure in Reliance Industries Ltd. and banking stocks.

On Wednesday, the BSE Sensex had gained 299.17 points to close at 74,828.25, while the Nifty advanced 117.80 points to settle at 23,446.80.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar