Sensex Plunges 700 pts, Nifty Below 16,300 Amid Weak Global Cues; Asian Paints, IRCTC Top Losers
The benchmark indices opened in deep red on Friday morning. This comes as talks between Ukraine and Russia have not seemed to make any headway and thus high volatility amid rising commodity and oil prices may continue. At 09:16 IST, the Sensex was down 717.39 points or 1.30 per cent at 54385.29, and the Nifty was down 209.40 points or 1.27 per cent at 16288.60. About 637 shares have advanced, 1151 shares declined, and 79 shares are unchanged.
Equity indices relinquished early gains to close in the red for the second straight session on Thursday as surging oil prices amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine sapped risk appetite.
Global Cues
Stocks fell and oil prices eased back Thursday after another bumpy day of trading on Wall Street as markets remained anxious about the broader impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.The S&P 500 shed a 0.7 per cent gain to close 0.5 per cent lower, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3 per cent. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.6 per cent, weighed down by technology stocks, which accounted for a big share of the market’s decline. The pullback left the indexes on pace for weekly losses.
Hong Kong stocks tumbled at the open Friday on growing fears about the Ukraine war as it emerged that a fire had broken out at Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant after it was hit by Russian shelling. The Hang Seng Index sank 2.62 per cent, or 588.21 points, to 21,879.13. The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.61 per cent, or 21.13 points, to 3459.98, while the Shenzhen Composite Index on China’s second exchange shed 0.70 per cent, or 15.95 points, to 2,278.13. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 2.39 per cent or 636.45 points at 25,940.82, while the broader Topix index was down 1.92 per cent or 36.08 points at 1,845.72.
Oil prices rebounded on Friday as the disruption of Russian oil exports because of western sanctions outweighed the prospect of more Iranian supplies from a possible nuclear deal. Brent crude futures for May rose to as much as $114.23 a barrel and were at $113.72, up $3.26, or 3 per cent by 0121 GMT. The contract fell 2.2 per cent on Thursday.
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