Sensex crashes over 750 pts to end at 6-month low; Nifty ends below 10,300 on global rout

The BSE Sensex slumped over 750 points to end at a six-month low and NSE Nifty ended below the 10,300 mark on Thursday, October 10, as global indices witnessed across-the-board losses after investor sentiment was hit by heavy sell-off in world markets.

The 30-share index, which commenced with a gap down opening, cracked over 1,000 points, breaching the 34,000-mark and hit a low of 33,723.53, before staging a partial recovery to touch a high of 34,325.09 in afternoon trade.

India's key equity indices plummeted on Thursday, October 10, after a feeble recovery early on, as concerns about global growth and expectations of ever-tighter interest rates in the United States roiled markets across the world.

The S&P BSE Sensex was down nearly 800 points and the NSE'S Nifty50 was below the key 10,300-mark amid market volatility.

"The sell-off was in sync with the slide in Asian markets after a sharp fall in the US equities on Wednesday. Rising US interest rates, and US-China trade tension will likely hurt corporate profits." said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Also, International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde's comments that stock market valuations had been "extremely high", triggered the meltdown in the US markets, and spilled over to Asia on Thursday.

At one point, the Sensex had crashed 1,000 points, before recouping some of the losses on value buying.

Heavy selling was witnessed in banking, IT, metals, auto and capital goods stocks. All 19 sector-based indices on the BSE, except the energy index, traded in the red.

At 2.15 pm, NSE's Nifty traded at 10,240.30, down 219.80 points or 2.10 per cent from its Wednesday's close. The S&P BSE Sensex, which had opened at 34,063.82, traded at 33,967.32, down 793.57 points or 2.28 per cent.

The rupee on Thursday, October 10, inched closer to 74.50 against the dollar on account of buying in the American currency by banks and exporters. After opening 10 paise down at 74.31 against dollar, the local currency hit its fresh record low of 74.46.

With agency inputs.