Sensex plunges over 1,000 points; Nifty slumps below 8,000

Markets extended losses with both the Sensex and Nifty down over 4%

The bears continued to have a firm grip on the markets, amid weak global cues, with China’s benchmark index Shanghai composite plunging over 9% after the Wall Street crashed on the Friday amid concerns over economic slowdown in China, the world’s second largest economy.

At 10:38AM, the 30-share Sensex plunged 1,092 points at 26,274 and the Nifty slumped 338 points at 7,962.

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In the broader market, BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were down 4% each.
Market breadth weakened further with 1,859 losers and 223 gainers on the BSE.

Meanwhile, foreign investors remained net sellers in equities with huge sale of Rs 2,341 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian shares and commodities weakened further on fears of economic slowdown in China. The benchmark Shanghai Composite extended losses and slumped over 9% while the Hang Seng and Nikkei were down over 4% while Straits Times was down 3.5%.

US shares recorded their worst single day fall in four years on the back of economic slowdown in China. The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended over 3% lower on Friday.

RUPEE

The Indian rupee also dropped to fresh two-year low and was trading at 66.46 down 63 paise to the US dollar compared to it previous close on Friday on the back of an appreciating dollar.

SECTORS & STOCKS

All sectoral indices were in the red with Realty index down over 5% followed by Oil and Gas, Power, Auto and Bankex down over 4% each among others.

Some of the Sensex stocks which hit 52-week lows today include ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Tata Steel, Hindalco Industries, Cairn India, Gail (India), NMDC, NTPC, Tata Power Company and Vedanta.

Banks which are a proxy to the economy witnessed selling pressure on concerns that demand for credit would remain subdued on account of sluggish economic growth. The Bank Nifty was down nearly 5%. HDFC, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and SBI were down 4.5-5% each.

IT stocks which gained in the previous sessions witnessed profit taking with Infosys, Wipro and TCS down over 3% each.

Index heavyweights Reliance Industries was down over 4%.

Capital goods shares also witnessed profit taking on concerns that fresh order inflows may be impacted. L&T and BHEL down 3-6% each.

Metal stocks weakened on worries over lower demand amid sluggish growth in China, the world's largest consumer. Vedanta dropped over 6% while Tata Steel and Hindalco were down 3-4% each.

Auto stocks witnessed profit taking on concerns that sales growth in August would remain muted. Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and M&M were down 3-5% each.