Stock Market: Sensex Dives 770 Points, Nifty Gives Up 17,550 Tracking Weak Global Cues

Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Thursday declined over 1 per cent each, weighed by global growth concerns amid weak trends.

The BSE Sensex slumped 770 points (1.29 per cent) to settle at 58,766. During the day, it tanked 1,014 points to 58,522. On the other hand, the broader NSE Nifty declined 216 points (1.22 per cent) to close at 17,542.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, NTPC, Hindustan Unilever, HDFC, Power Grid, Bajaj Finance, and ICICI Bank were among the major losers. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel, Titan, State Bank of India, Mahindra & Mahindra, and IndusInd Bank were the gainers.

Among specific stocks, shares of SpiceJet tanked as much as 14.7 per cent after its chief financial officer resigned, with the low-cost carrier posting a wider quarterly loss and facing increased scrutiny over mid-air incidents.

The overall sentiment of the 30-share BSE stood negative, as only seven scrips advanced, while the rest 23 declined on Thursday.

The broader markets, however, remained relatively resilient. The S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices settled 0.5 per cent higher each.

Sectorwise, the Nifty Realty index added 1 per cent, followed by the Nifty PSU Bank index (up 0.7 per cent). On the downside, the Nifty IT index declined 1.9 per cent, followed by the Nifty Pharma index (down 1.12 per cent).

In the previous session on Tuesday, the 30-share BSE benchmark jumped 1,564 points (2.70 per cent) to settle at 59,537, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 446 points (2.58 per cent) to 17,759.

Stock markets were closed on Wednesday on account of Ganesh Chaturthi.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai ended lower. Stock markets in Europe were trading in the negative zone during mid-session deals. The US markets had ended in the red on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 2 per cent to $93.73 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 4,165.86 crore on Tuesday, as per exchange data.