It was a bloodbath on the Indian bourses on Monday as benchmark indices closed in deep red.

Market opened on a negative note with Sensex crashing over 1500 points in early deals. Increasing geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine and rising crude oil prices has triggered a global sell-offIndices, Market extended losses during the day, witnessing broad based selling.

The BSE Sensex closed at 56,405.84, down 1747.08 points or 3.00 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 57,191.91 and a low of 56,295.70. The Nifty 50 closed at 16,842.80, down 531.95 points or 3.06 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 17,099.50 and a lo of 16,809.65

Sea of red 

Majority of the stocks traded on the exchanges closed in the red. Only one scrip, TCS closed in the green on the Nifty 50. JSW Steel, Tata Steel, HDFC Life, Tata Motors and HDFC were the top laggards. Heavyweight HDFC slumped over 5.5 per cent at closing.

As many as 2,984stocks declined on the BSE as compared to 567 stocks advanced while 119 remained unchanged. Furthermore, 760 stocks hit the lower circuit as compared to the 253 stocks that were locked in the upper circuit. Besides, 184 stocks touched a 52-week high level and 120 touched a 52-week low.

The volatility index jumped 23 per cent to 22.98.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said, “Increased tension between the US and Russia over Ukraine sent oil prices rising and forced investors to dump risky assets.”

“Risk sentiment was further dampened ahead of the Fed’s emergency meeting which heightened fears of aggressive monetary tightening. On the domestic front, the annual WPI inflation eased marginally to 12.96 per cent in January from 13.56 per cent in December, but still high, amid moderation in the fuel and power prices,” said Nair. 

Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart Ltd said, “Indian market tumbled sharply amid geopolitical tension. This geopolitical tension is leading to a sharp surge in crude oil prices and the dollar index which is another negative trigger for emerging markets like India”

“We are seeing continuous selling by FIIs while DIIs flows may also come down ahead of big LIC IPO. The inflation and rising interest rate environment in the US is still a concern for the market and this geopolitical tension is creating a double whammy situation for the global markets,” added Meena.

All in red

On the sectoral front, all indices closed in red with metals, realty, financials and auto recording the highest losses.

Nifty PSU Bank was down nearly 6 per cent while Nifty Metal and Nifty Realty were down over 5 per cent each, at closing. Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Private Bank were each down over 4 per cent. Nifty Auto was down nearly 4 per cent. 

Broader market under pressure

Broader market also witnessed selling pressure with broader indices closing in the red.

Nifty Midcap 50 was down 3.92 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 50 was down 4.31 per cent.!The S&P BSE Midcap was down 3.51 per cent while the S&P BSE Smallcap was down 4.15 per cent.

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