Fears that the Hamas-Israel conflict may widen into a bigger regional turmoil added to the negative sentiment. The fall in global crude prices did not aid sentiment.
Extending the losing run to the sixth straight session, the Nifty closed below 19,000 for the first time since June 28 amid intense selling by foreign portfolio investors. Sensex plunged 901 points, or 1.4%, to close at 63,148.15. Nifty dropped 270 points, or 1.4%, to end at 18,852.20. These gauges are down nearly 7% from their mid-September peaks. “The fall in the market today was mainly due to a sudden jump in the 10-year bond yield of the US,” said Shrikant S Chouhan, head of equity research, Kotak Securities. “Also, the gap between US yield and the government securities here is narrowing, which increases pressure on the Indian rupee.”
The stronger-than-expected US economy in the July-September quarter – 4.9% seasonally adjusted annual rate – reinforced concerns that interest rates may remain high for long.
US Markets Fall Again
On Thursday, Wall Street’s main indices dropped as megacap stocks remained under pressure. At the time of going to press, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.40%, the S&P 500 was down 0.75% and the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.30%.
The pan-Europe index Stoxx 600 ended 0.5% lower, with automakers leading declines.
Analysts said the markets might be oversold in the short term with the benchmark indices falling nearly 5% in the past six days. The strength of a likely rebound would, however, depend on whether overseas investor outflows subside.
On Thursday, foreign portfolio investors net sold Rs 7,702 crore shares. Domestic institutions purchased Rs 6,558 crore in equities, which helped cushion the fall.
In October so far, foreign investors have net sold shares worth Rs 17,600 crore after pulling Rs 14,768 crore out of domestic equities in the preceding month, rushing to the security of high yields in the US amid a worsening geopolitical situation. Elsewhere in Asia, most markets corrected after the US 10-year Treasury yield inched back closer to the 5%-mark. Hong Kong fell 0.2%, South Korea declined 2.7%, Taiwan dropped 1.7% and Indonesia shed 1.8%. The Chinese market bucked the trend and closed 0.5% up, taking a cue from the stimulus measures announced to revive the economy.
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