Freaky Friday! Sensex Plunges 1,000 pts, Nifty Below 17,800; All Sectors in Red

Sensex Today: Benchmark indices ended lower for the fourth consecutive session on December 23 with Nifty around 17,800. Key indices – Nifty50 declined around 300 points as it came within striking distance of the 17,800 level; whereas the S&P BSE Sensex broke the 60,000-mark, and tumbled over 900 points in intra-day trades.

Broader markets, too, followed suit as Nifty MidCap 100 and Nifty SmallCap 100 indices fell up to 3 per cent. Volatility gauge, India VIX, meanwhile, climbed over 4 per cent.

Barring Nifty Pharma index, which held marginal gains in a weak market, all sectors drowned in the sea of red. Nifty Media, Nifty Metal, Nifty Realty and Nifty PSU Bank indices bore the brunt of intense selloff and declined up to 5 per cent in trade.

Among individual stocks, shares of Bharat Immunologicals & Biologicals Corporation were locked in 20 per cent upper circuit at Rs 44.85, amid heavy volumes.

Global Cues

Globally, the US markets saw a sharp selloff overnight, with tech stocks driving the losses. Dow Jones, NASDAQ Composite, and the S&P 500 indices declined up to 2 per cent.

Asia-Pacific markets, too, fell in tandem this morning as Nikkei 225, Kospi, the S&P 200, Topix, Hang Seng, and Shanghai Composite indices dropped up to 1 per cent.

In the commodities market, prices of Brent Crude and WTI Crude rose over 1 per cent each to $82 per barrel and $78 per barrel, respectively.

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