Indian shares nosedived on Thursday as mounting concerns over high inflation and slowing global growth sent investors flocking to the safe haven of the dollar and bonds.
U.S. retail giants Target and Walmart missed earnings expectations by wide margins and issued back-to-back profit warnings, raising concerns that the post-pandemic inflation has become an entrenched one.
India’s WPI inflation jumped to a 17-year high, raising expectations that the RBI will hike rates by at least 50 basis points at the June policy meeting and reduce liquidity in a calibrated manner.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex fell 1,416.30 points, or 2.61 percent, to 52,792.23 while the broader NSE Nifty index ended the session down 430.90 points, or 2.65 percent, at 15,809.40.
IT stocks bore the brunt of the selling after the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plummeted as much as 4.7 percent overnight. Tech Mahindra, TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Technologies lost 5-6 percent.
Metal stocks were also hit hard amid mounting concerns about slowing global growth. Tata Steel and Hindalco fell more than 4 percent each.
On the positive side, FMCG-cigarette-to-hotel major ITC rallied 3.4 percent after its Q4 profit topped expectations.
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories rose about 1 percent. The pharmaceutical firm posted a 76 percent year-on-year decline in consolidated net profit for the fourth quarter ended March, due to impairment charges of Rs 751.5 crores during the quarter.
Sensex, Nifty Plunge As Global Sell-off Deepens
2022-05-19 10:29:39
