Sensex ends in red after 1,000-pt flash crash

The BSE Sensex tumbled about 280 points to close below the 37,000-mark Friday after investors were jolted by an over 1,000-point plunge in afternoon trade.

The 30-share benchmark, which opened on a strong footing, suddenly tanked 1,127.58 points, or 3.03 per cent, to hit a low of 35,993.64 at 1309 hours, before staging an equally sharp recovery.

The fall came on the back of a massive selloff in NBFCs, led by DHFL which skidded over 50 per cent on fears of a liquidity crisis.

The Sensex finally ended lower by 279.62 points, or 0.75 per cent, at 36,841.60. This is its lowest closing since July 25, when it had finished at 36,858.23.

Yes Bank was the worst performer on the index, losing a whopping 28.71 per cent. The Reserve Bank Wednesday curtailed the term of its founding CEO Rana Kapoor and asked the private sector lender to look for his replacement by January 2019.

The broader Nifty too suffered a mid-session plunge and ended at 11,143.10, down 91.25 points.

The indices closed with losses for the third straight week. The Sensex lost a hefty 1,249.04 points, or 3.28 per cent, while the NSE Nifty fell 372.10 points, or 3.23 per cent, during the week.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained net sellers and offloaded equities worth Rs 2,184.55 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) made purchases worth a net Rs 1,201.30 crore Wednesday, provisional data showed.