SENSEX drops nearly 1,000 points, NIFTY50 trades below 23,600; here are key things to know

The Indian equity benchmarks nosedived for a second straight session on Thursday, March 12, mirroring losses in other Asian markets after crude oil price in the international markets moved above $100 a barrel sending fears of inflationary pressure among the market participants. The SENSEX fell as much as 993 points and NIFTY50 index dropped below its important psychological level of 23,600 to hit an intraday low of 23,556.

As of 9:26 am, the SENSEX was down 845 points at 76,018 and NIFTY50 index plunged 264 points to 23,605.

Surging crude prices

Crude oil price moved above $100 per barrel in the international markets as tensions loomed over the recent attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, while investors weighed the impact of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) largest-ever emergency oil reserve release.

After a brief cooldown in the energy prices, the rates surged during the early trading hours on March 12 as Brent crude oil futures jumped as much as 10.4% to $101 per barrel amid rising tensions in the Middle East.

Surging crude prices and weak rupee against the US dollar are big negatives for the Indian macro economic fundamentals as they will lead to higher import bill as India imports more than 80% of its crude oil requirements.

Weak Asian cues

Asian markets were also trading lower after crude oil moved above $100 par barrel. Japan's Nikkei fell 2%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.3%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.2% and South Korea's KOSPI tumbled 1.22%.

Relentless selling by FIIs

Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth ₹6,267 crore on Wednesday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹4,965 crore, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The FIIs have so far this month sold shares worth ₹39,417 crore compared with shares worth ₹22,615 bought by them in February, according to the data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

Sectoral landscape

Selling pressure was visible across board as all the major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading lower led by the NIFTY Auto index's 2.64% fall. NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, Private Bank, Realty, Consumer Durables, PSU Bank, Pharma and FMCG indices also fell between 1.47% and 2.33%.

Broader markets were also facing the heat of selling pressure as NIFTY Midcap 100 index dropped 1.78% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index plunged 1.8%.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative as 2,255 shares were declining while 467 were advancing on the NSE.

NIFTY50 top gainers and losers

Eternal was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 4.12% to ₹214 after reports of closure of restaurants due to non-availability of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) weighed on the stock.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors PV, IndiGo, Trent, Shriram Finance, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Steel and Titan also fell between 2% and 3%.

On the flip side, Tech Mahindra, Coal India, Reliance Industries and ONGC were among the notable gainers in the NIFTY50 index.