Closing Bell: Global cues spook Indian markets, Sensex tanks by 1747 points

It was a bad day for the domestic markets as Sensex and Nifty lost over 3% in today's trading session.

The Indian equity benchmarks fell sharply on Monday, extending fall to the second straight session amid a global sell-off. The domestic indices came down heavily, tracking the meltdown in global markets due to escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

During today's trade investors have lost more than Rs 8.50 lakh crore in a day after the plunge on Dalal Street, with the market capitalization (m-cap) of BSE-listed companies falling to Rs 255.36 lakh crore from Friday's Rs 263.90 lakh crore mark.

At the closing bell on February 14, the Sensex was down 1,747.08 points or 3.00% at 56,405.84, and the Nifty was down 532 points or 3.06% at 16,842.80. On the market breadth, around 574 shares have advanced, 2897 shares declined, and 108 shares are unchanged.

Top Nifty losers on a bleeding day were JSW Steel, HDFC Life, ITC, Tata Steel and Tata Motors, while the only gainer today was TCS.

On a sectoral basis, all the sectoral indices ended in the red with auto, bank, oil & gas, PSU Bank, pharma, FMCG, metal, realty and capital goods indices shed 2-6% each. In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices lost 3-4%.

In other economic news, the WPI inflation data for the month of January eased at 12.96%, even though the inflation in food went up to 10.33% in January 2022 from 9.56% in December 2021. While the vegetable price rise rate jumped to 38.45% against 31.56% in the previous month.

In global markets, Asian shares also traded in deep red, after concerns that Russia may soon invade Ukraine, which sent oil prices to seven-year peaks. Oil rates surged towards USD 100 a barrel for the first time since 2014.

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