Sensex nurses losses after 1,100-pt flash crash; logs 3rd weekly fall

Mumbai, September 21

Benchmark indices finished with losses on Friday after investors were jolted by a sudden mid-session plunge amid a massive sell-off in NBFC stocks.

The BSE Sensex, which opened on a strong footing, suddenly tanked 1,127.58 points, or 3.03 per cent, to hit a low of 35,993.64 in afternoon trade, before staging an equally sharp recovery within minutes.

It finally closed at 36,841.60, down 279.62 points. It saw an intra-day swing of 1,495.60 points.

The broader NSE Nifty shed 91.25 points to finish at 11,143.10.

The indices closed in the red for the fourth day in a row, during which investors lost a massive Rs 5.6 lakh crore.

Shares of housing finance firms slumped, with Dewan Housing Finance tumbling up to 42 per cent on fears of a liquidity crisis.

Reports of debt defaults by IL&FS also sparked concerns, which spilled over into other NBFC counters.

Yes Bank was the worst performer in the Sensex pack, losing a whopping 28.71 per cent, after the RBI curtailed the term of its founding CEO Rana Kapoor.

The indices closed with losses for the third straight week. The Sensex lost a hefty 1,249.04 points, or 3.28 per cent, while the NSE Nifty fell 372.10 points, or 3.23 per cent, during the week.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained net sellers and offloaded equities worth Rs 2,184.55 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) made purchases worth a net Rs 1,201.30 crore Wednesday, provisional data showed.

“The events surrounding Yes Bank and DHFL sent the broader markets sharply lower. The trigger on the surface seems to be the selling of debt papers of DHFL by one of the prominent AMCs, but the broader issue is that of a contagion leading to selloff in papers of other companies,” said Joesph Thomas, Head of Research - Wealth Management, Emkay Global Financial Services.

Other major index losers were Kotak Bank 3.86 per cent, Adani Ports 2.94 per cent, Maruti Suzuki 2.04 per cent, Infosys 1.96 per cent, Sun Pharma 1.82 per cent, Coal India 1.75 per cent, HUL 1.65 per cent, NTPC 1.03 per cent, Tata Motors 0.99 per cent, Bajaj Auto 0.16 per cent and Vedanta 0.13 per cent.

ONGC was the top gainer, spurting 1.95 per cent, followed by Wipro 1.38 per cent, ITC 1.37 per cent, TCS 1.30 per cent, Asian Paints 1.07 per cent, M&M 1.05 per cent,  and PowerGrid 1.03 per cent, among others.

Sector-wise, realty plunged 3.48 per cent, banking 3.13 per cent, finance 2.51 per cent, power 1.91 per cent, healthcare 1.66 per cent, auto 1.18 per cent, IT 1.08 per cent, infrastructure 0.85 per cent, teck 0.76 per cent, FMCG 0.74 per cent, consumer durables 0.68 per cent, capital goods 0.61 per cent, metal 0.42 per cent and PSU 0.42 per cent.

Oil and gas rose 1.50 per cent.

In the broader markets, the BSE small-cap index dived 3 per cent, while the mid-cap gauge lost 1.72 per cent.

Globally, most Asian and European markets rose, tracking positive closing in the US market overnight on easing trade war concerns.

In the Asian region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1.73 per cent, Shanghai Composite Index edged higher by 2.50 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.82 per cent.

In the Eurozone, Paris CAC 40 was up 0.68 per cent and Frankfurt’s DAX advanced 0.70 per cent. London’s FTSE too was up 1.08 per cent. PTI