Sensex tanks 318 pts; Nifty closes below 11,600

Mumbai: Snapping its three-day rising streak, equity benchmark BSE Sensex slumped 318 points Thursday, dragged by a sell-off in index heavyweights RIL, TCS, ICICI Bank and SBI.

The 30-share index settled 318.18 points or 0.81 per cent lower at 38,897.46. It hit an intra-day low of 38,861.25 and a high of 39,204.47. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty broke below the 11,600 mark, ending 90.60 points or 0.78 per cent down at 11,596.90.

During the day, the index hit a low of 11,582.40 and a high of 11,677.15. Yes Bank was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack in absolute terms, cracking 12.85 per cent, after the company reported a massive 92.44 per cent slump in consolidated net profit to Rs 95.56 crore.

ONGC, Tata Motors, M&M, Maruti, Vedanta, Bajaj Auto, TCS, SBI and HCL Tech lost up to 4.24 per cent. On the other hand, HDFC was the top gainer, rallying 2.26 per cent, followed by Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank and ITC that rose up to 0.31 per cent.

According to traders, market witnessed across-the-board selling with heavyweights Reliance Industries, TCS, ICICI Bank, SBI and Maruti dragging key indices, while gains in HDFC twins capped the losses to some extent.

Weakness in other Asian and European markets too weighted on investor sentiment here, they said. Shanghai Composite Index ended 1.04 per cent lower, Hang Seng fell 0.46 per cent, Kospi 0.31 and Nikkei dropped 1.97 per cent.

Bourses in Europe were also trading in the red in their respective early sessions. On the currency front, the Indian rupee depreciated 12 paise to 68.95 against the US dollar (intra-day).

Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.33 per cent to USD 63.87 per barrel.