Sensex tanks 383 pts on F&O expiry; Nifty ends below 11,000
Benchmark BSE Sensex slumped 383 points on Thursday, dragged by a sell-off in financial stocks, as August series derivatives expired amid tepid global cues. After a highly volatile session, the 30-share Sensex ended 382.91 points, or 1.02 per cent, lower at 37,068.93. It hit an intra-day low of 36,987.35.
Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty shed 97.80 points, or 0.89 per cent, to finish at 10,948.30. Top laggards among the Sensex pack included Yes Bank, SBI, HDFC, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, ITC, RIL, M&M, Tata Motors and ICICI Bank, losing up to 3.61 per cent. On the other hand, Sun Pharma, Vedanta, NTPC, ONGC, Asian Paints, Infosys and HUL were the top gainers, spurting up to 5.31 per cent.
Besides continued concerns over an impending global recession, the domestic market witnessed high volatility on the back of weekly and monthly expiration of the August futures and options (F&O) contracts, experts said.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hang Seng, Kospi and Nikkei settled on a negative note, while the Shanghai Composite Index ended in the green. Equities in Europe were trading significantly higher in their respective early sessions. Meanwhile, the Indian rupee appreciated marginally to 71.73 against the US dollar intra-day. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, slipped 0.03 per cent to USD 59.91 per barrel.
