Equity benchmark Sensex crashed over 2,700 points on Thursday following a severe sell-off in global markets after Russia launched a military offensive against Ukraine. The 30-share BSE gauge plunged about 2,850 points during the session before closing at 54,529.91, registering a massive fall of 2,702.15 points or 4.72 percent.
Likewise, the NSE barometer Nifty nosedived 815.30 points or 4.78 percent to end at 16,247.95. This was also the seventh straight session of decline for both indices. On the Sensex chart, all 30 shares suffered heavy losses, with IndusInd Bank, M&M and Bajaj Finance shedding as much as 8 per cent.
"If you are still holding fundamentally weak stocks that had gone up merely on hope, it may still not be a bad time to get rid of them. Those invested in quality stocks, however, should stay put as the long-term India growth story is intact," Rahul Shah, co-head of Research at Equitymaster, said.
Russian troops launched wide-ranging military attacks on Ukraine on Thursday after Moscow cast aside international sanctions and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere would lead to "consequences you have never seen".
Globally, stocks plunged and oil prices surged by more than USD 5 per barrel amid intensifying Ukraine crisis, which experts believe may roil the global economy.
Market benchmarks in Europe and Asia fell by as much as 4 percent. Brent crude oil jumped above USD 100 per barrel for the first time since 2014 on unease about possible disruption of supplies from Russia. "Ukraine is under attack from Russian forces. The threat of severe sanctions on Moscow is now at its highest level, sending equity markets tumbling globally.
The sentiment is driving market direction, which will lead to a large sell-offà," said Leonardo Pellandini, Equity Strategy, Julius Baer. Continuing their selling spree, foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 3,417.16 crore in the Indian capital markets on Wednesday, exchange data showed.
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