The equity markets on Thursday suffered a huge loss as the 30-share BSE Sensex lost more than 1,100 points in early trading. Apart from this, the broader 50-share NSE Nifty had also slumped more than 2%.
The Sensex started trading at 53,070.30, crashing 1,138.23 points from the previous closing mark of 54,208.53.
At 11:30 am the Sensex was trading at 53,161.85, down 1,035.29 points, while Nifty was at 15,924.35, 316.05 points below Wednesday’s closing mark.
According to a leading international newspaper the poor sentiment in markets was mainly due to a selloff in foreign exchanges. Overnight, United States-based indices Nasdaq and S&P 500 lost 3% each. As a result, stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region also opened with losses on Thursday morning.
Concerns about high levels of inflation and an economic slowdown in India also weighed down investor sentiments. India’s retail inflation rose to an eight-year high of 7.79% in April. Meanwhile, the price rise indicator in wholesale markets was at 15.08% in April. It has now remained in double digits for 13 consecutive months.
Major information technology stocks like Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra were among the top laggards in the Indian markets on Thursday morning with their stocks losing in the range of 3.1% to 4.3%.
