MUMBAI: Heavy foreign investor cash selling in the last hour of trade amid reports of escalation of Russian-Ukrainian hostilities and its impact on energy and food prices caused an almost vertical drop in the Nifty and the Sensex , which fell one and a quarter percent each.
The Nifty closed down 215 points at 16,958.65 and the Sensex dipped 703.59 points to 56,463.15 . The Nifty gave up 317 points from the day’s high as FIIs sold shares worth a provisional Rs 5871.69 crore.
The HDFC twins continued their drag on the benchmark indices, with the mortgage lender shedding 6.3% to close at Rs 2121.75 and HDFC Bank declining 4.3% at Rs 1,335 apiece. Infosys, which has a substantial index weight, too pulled the index down, tanking 3.48% to Rs 1,565.
What saved the market from a steeper fall was Reliance’s 3.8% rally to Rs 2,640.80 amid the broader market rout. Reports of it being added to the Morgan Stanley Global Emerging Markets Focus List lent heft to the stock.
NSDL data shows FIIs have sold Indian shares worth $550 million. In FY22, they sold shares worth $18.5 billion . Data shows an immediate range for Nifty at 16700-17200 with a bias for the downside. Fear gauge India Vix rose by 2.27% to 19.78 . A reading above 20 signals greater uncertainty.