The Indian stock market witnessed a sharp sell-off on Monday, with the BSE Sensex tumbling around 1,100 points from the day's high as investors turned
cautious amid persistent concerns over elevated crude oil prices, foreign fund outflows and global market uncertainties. At 2:16 pm, the Sensex was down 675.97 points or 0.93% at 71,796.36, and the Nifty was down 176.55 points or 0.78% at 22,343.90. Among the sectors, most of the indices slipped into the red with the Nifty Infrastructure fell slightly, dragged down by losses in key constituent Bharti Airtel. Banks part of the Nifty PSU Bank index traded lower, with State Bank of India down almost 2%, and Punjab National Bank and Union Bank of India over 1% lower each. Indian Bank, Canara Bank, and Bank of India were down nearly 1%.
What led to sharp fall?
The markets witnessed profit booking at higher levels after the markets rose for second straight day.
Analysts also said the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) measures to curb rupee volatility could ease near-term depreciation pressure and help withdraw surplus liquidity from the banking system. RBI will sell Rs 25,000 crore of bonds and require banks to maintain 99% of their daily cash reserve requirement from October 16, up from 90%.
Reacting to the RBI's development, Bank Nifty traded nearly 1% lower.
The Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continue to extend their selling streak to 11 consecutive sessions, recording net sales of Rs 3,568 crore.
