Sensex Tanks Over 850 Points On Weak Global Cues, Nifty Trades Below 16,450

Indian equity benchmarks on Friday plunged sharply in opening deals, taking cues from the global markets. Asian stocks fell over concerns that U.S. Federal Reserve and some other major central banks will have to raise interest rates even more aggressively to combat red-hot inflation.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 both fell more than 3 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite shed 4.99 per cent in its biggest single-day plunge since June 2020 to close at its lowest level since November 2020.

Back home, the 30-share BSE Sensex dived 879 points or 1.58 per cent to 54,823 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 253 points or 1.52 per cent down to trade at 16,429.

Mid- and small-cap shares were negative as Nifty Midcap 100 fell 2.38 per cent and small-cap shed 2.91 per cent.

All of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- were trading in the red. Nifty Auto, Nifty IT and Nifty Consumer Durables were underperforming the index by falling as much as 2.09 per cent, 2.32 per cent and 2.55 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Tata Motors was the top loser as the stock cracked 3.10 per cent to Rs 413.10. HCL Tech, UPL, Bajaj Finance and Wipro were also among the losers.

The overall market breadth stood weak as 447 shares were advancing while 2,318 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, HCL Tech, Bajaj Finance, Wipro, Bajaj Finserv, Infosys, Maruti and Tata Steel were among the top laggards.

In contrast, M&M, ITC, Reliance Industries and PowerGrid were trading in the green.