Sensex plunges 942 pts to settle at nearly 3-month low

PTI Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex tanked nearly 942 points to settle at a three-month low while Nifty crashed below 24,000 on Monday dragged down by heavy selling in Reliance Industries and banking shares and persistent FII outflows. The 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 941.88 points or 1.18% to settle at 78,782.24, the lowest closing level since August 6. During the day, it slumped 1,491.52 points or 1.87% to 78,232.60. The NSE Nifty tanked 309 points or 1.27% to close at 23,995.35 with 42 of its constituents ending lower and eight higher. The index tanked 488 points to hit 23,800 level during the day but recovered some of the losses later. Uncertainty ahead of US presidential elections on November 5 and expectations of a fresh stimulus package by China to prop up growth triggered selling in Indian stocks, analysts said.

Relentless selling by foreign investors also dampened the sentiments in the equity market. From the 30-share Sensex pack, Adani Ports, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, Tata Motors, Axis Bank and Titan were among the major laggards. Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, HCL Technologies, Infosys and IndusInd Bank were the gainers. Fore i g n institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 211.93 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. "As expected, India is underperforming its global peers due to excess valuation. The ongoing sell-off has deepened by weak Q2 earnings, dampening investor sentiment. Continued volatility is anticipated in the short-term, as attention shifts to the closely contested US presidential election. "Additionally, key economic events, such as the US Fed and BoE policy decisions, will be critical in shaping market movements, " said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

The BSE smallcap gauge fell by 1.65% and midcap index tanked 1.31 per cent. All sectoral indices ended in the red. Realty slumped 3%, oil & gas tumbled 2.54%, while energy (2.51%), telecommunication (2.11%), power (2.06%), industrials (1.72%), and commodities (1.69 per cent) also declined.