Negative global cues along with profit booking pulled India’s key equity indices – S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 – lower during Thursday’s late-afternoon trade session.
Accordingly, both the key indices traded over 1.50 per cent lower from their previous closing mark, respectively.
Notably, the Sensex plunged to nearly about a 1,000 points. It touched an intra-day low of 60,010.21 points.
In the initial trade, the key indices opened on a flat note and started to fall from the opening.
Globally, Asian stocks fell on Thursday amid concerns that the recovery from the pandemic will slow as elevated inflation forces tighter monetary policy.
On the domestic front, volumes on the NSE were lower than recent average while the advance decline ratio was sharply negative.
Among sectors, Realty, Power, Oil & Gas, Metals, Banks, Telecom and FMCG fell the most.
At 3 p.m., the 30-scrip sensitive index traded at 60,154.13 points, down 989.20 points or 1.62 per cent.
The Sensex opened at 61,081 points from its previous close of 61,143.33 points.
Besides, the NSE Nifty50 traded at 17,923.80 points, lower by 287.15 points or 1.58 per cent.
It opened at 18,187.65 points from its previous close of 18,210.95 points.
“Morgan Stanley has downgraded Indian markets to equal weight. All these could lead to FPI unwinding and continued pressure on indices,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
According to Likhita Chepa Senior Research Analyst at CapitalVia Global Research: “Indian equity benchmarks made a negative start on Thursday tracking weakness in global peers. Markets quickly extended their losses and are now trading lower, with each market losing more than half a per cent in early trade.
“Traders were wary since the October F&O series contract was set to expire later in the day.”