Sensex dives 444 points on global sell-off, Nifty below 8,800

Mumbai: The BSE Sensex plunged by 444 points today -- its biggest single-day drop since the Brexit fallout on June 24 -- to end at nearly two-week low of 28,353.54 and the NSE Nifty went below 8,800-mark, tracking global meltdown due to heightened fears over US interest rate hike.

Market sentiment was weighed down by weakness in global markets, triggered by renewed concerns of the US Federal Reserve raising interest rates this month.

Equity brokers said concerns inflows to emerging markets will be curtailed if the US raised interest rates, leading to fall in banking as well as metal stocks.

Investors also turned cautious ahead of macroeconomic data -- IIP for July and inflation data for August -- scheduled to be released later in the day.

The rupee depreciating by 28 paise to 66.96 against the dollar (intra-day) at the forex market also hit the sentiment.

The BSE Sensex resumed sharply lower at 28,481.09 and continued its slide to touch a low of 28,251.31 following widespread losses on major sell-off.

It recovered to a high of 28,481.11 on value-buying in select stocks and settled the day at 28,353.54, a steep fall of 443.71, its biggest single-day fall since June 24 when it had lost 604.51 points.

The 50-share NSE Nifty after dipping below 8,700-mark to touch a low 8,699.40 points in the opening trade, recovered partially to close above the 8,700-mark at 8,715.60, still showing a fall of 151.10 points, or 1.70 percent.

Stock market will remain closed tomorrow on account of "Bakri Id".

As many as 26 Sensex stocks closed with losses, including Tata Steel, Adani Ports, SBI, L&T, NTPC, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, M&M, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, ITC Ltd, GAIL, Lupin.

However, Infosys, TCS, RIL and Wipro notched up gains.

Among sectoral indices, realty suffered the most by falling 5.23 percent followed by metal 4.34 percent, capital goods 3.25 percent, power 3.14 percent, PSU 2.95 per cent, auto 2.61 percent and banking 2.39 percent. While IT index rose 0.87 percent and teck gained 0.26 percent.

The broader markets too remained under pressure, with the BSE mid-cap index slumping 2.95 percent -- its biggest single-day fall in six months -- and the small-cap index shedding 2.35 per cent.

Globally, Asian and European stocks tumbled, extending last week's sell-off hit by fears that the US Federal Reserve could be closer to an interest rate hike.

For the day, benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai Composite Index lower by up to 3.36 percent.

European markets were also in negative zone with key indices in France, Germany and the UK down by up to 2 percent their in early trade.