Key indices tank on renewed war fears

Cascading Effect

- BSE Sensex ended 778.38 pts lower at 55,468.90

- NSE Nifty shed 187.95 pts to 16,605.95

- Maruti Suzuki top loser in Sensex pack

- Dr Reddy's, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, HDFC twins and UltraTech Cement among laggards

- Tata Steel, Titan, RIL, Nestle India and Axis Bank bucked the trend

- BSE Mcap at 251.52 lakh cr.

Mumbai: Reversing their two-session rising streak, equity benchmarks buckled under selling pressure on Wednesday as the Russia-Ukraine war hammered investor confidence and roiled financial markets globally. A sharp depreciation in the rupee, unabated selling by foreign investors and lacklustre macroeconomic data added to the gloom, analysts said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened weak and plunged about 1,200 points in intra-day trade, before recovering some lost ground. It finally ended 778.38 points or 1.38 per cent lower at 55,468.90. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty shed 187.95 points or 1.12 per cent to close at 16,605.95.

The market capitalisation (mcap) of BSE-listed companies tanked Rs86,741.74 crore to reach Rs 2,51,52,303.35 crore in tandem with the massive selloff.

Maruti Suzuki was the top loser in the Sensex pack, tumbling 6 per cent, after the country's largest carmaker reported subdued sales and production figures for February, hit by the ongoing global semiconductor shortage. Other auto stocks too bore the brunt of heavy selling.