Stock Market crash: Benchmark indices dropped sharply on Monday as uncertainty around the upcoming US presidential elections weighed heavily on investor sentiment, leading to a decline of more than 1 per cent during the morning trading session.
Stock Market update: Every sector remained in the red territory, with Nifty Energy being the worst hit as the index declined by 3.26 per cent
Stock Market crash: Benchmark indices dropped sharply on Monday as uncertainty around the upcoming US presidential elections weighed heavily on investor sentiment, leading to a decline of more than 1 per cent during the morning trading session.
BSE Sensex fell by nearly 1,180.52 points or over 1.4 per cent, trading at 78,543.59 level. Meanwhile, NSE Nifty was down by 385.80 points or nearly 1.6 per cent and was trading at 23,918 level mark.
Every sector remained in the red territory, with Nifty Energy being the worst hit as the index declined by nearly 1,293.50 points or 3.26 per cent.
From the 30-share Sensex pack, Sun Pharma, Reliance Industries, Infosys, Tata Motors, Infosys, Titan, Maruti and NTPC were among the major laggards.
Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies and IndusInd Bank were the gainers. Investors' wealth eroded by Rs 7.37 lakh crore owing to the sharp decline witnessed by the equity market. Market players are cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve interest rate decision scheduled to be announced later this week.
Here is more on what led to the decline:
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 211.93 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
Foreign investors pulled out a massive Rs 94,000 crore (around USD 11.2 billion) from the Indian stock market in October, making it the worst-ever month in terms of outflows, triggered by the elevated valuation of domestic equities and attractive valuations of Chinese stocks.
Uncertainty continues to linger in the geopolitical picture as the results of the US presidential election gets closer. This is largely because investors are looking for clarity around the policy view.
"In the next couple of days markets globally will be focused on the US presidential elections and there can be near-term volatility in response to the election outcome. However, this is likely to be short-lived and economic fundamentals like US growth, inflation and the Fed action will influence the market trend," said Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
(With inputs from PTI)