Sensex recovers after plunging over 1000 pts; Nifty down by 222 pts

Losses in financial and IT sector shares caused Sensex and Nifty to tank on Tuesday. The losses come after three straight sessions of gains. The indices were also weighed down due to fears about China Evergrande Group’s debt crisis, news agency Reuters reported.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex lost 1.48% and is currently trading at 59,188 points, and dropped 889 points around 2.40pm IST. The NSE Nifty 50 index fell 1.21% and is currently trading 215 points lower at 17,639 points.

Anita Gandhi, director at Arihant Capital Markets, told news agency Reuters that investor sentiment in India and across the world saw a downturn due to the Evergrande debt crisis. Religare Broking’s Ajit Mishra said that this volatility could continue due to the upcoming festive season.

Tech Mahindra, one of the biggest losers on the Nifty 50, fell over 3%. Telecom giant Bharti Airtel, was the biggest loser in the benchmark index, as it lost over 4%. Among banks, IndusInd bank slid by 2.5%.

VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, told Livemint that there was huge profit booking in IT sector stocks which gave excellent returns of 82% one-year return, and cited it as one of the major reasons for today’s selloff.

HDFC, Infosys, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Finance were among the top losers in Sensex.

Stocks from the energy sector rose with Power Grid Corporation climbing over 4% and topped the Nifty50. Energy stocks hit a record high as it rose more than 2%. Metal stocks advanced 1.4% as Coal India jumped 4.8%. Real estate stocks, which gained for five straight sessions, were also down by 5%.