NEW DELHI: The escalating crisis in Ukraine triggered another session on Friday as markets fell above a point, tracking losses in auto, metals and FMCG stocks.
The 30-stock BSE index fell 769 points, or 1.4%, to close at 54,334; while the broader NSE Nifty fell 253 points, or 1.53%, to 16,245.
Titan, Maruti, Asian Paints, M&M, HUL and Bajaj Finance were the biggest losers among sensex packages, dropping 5.05%.
While Dr Reddy’s, ITC, Tech Mahindra and Ultra Cemco were the top gainers, rising to 2.96%.
Both indexes fell more than 2% at the start of the session, hitting their lowest levels since early August last year.
Ukrainian authorities said on Friday that Russian troops had seized the largest nuclear power plant in Europe after the building of the complex was set on fire during heavy fighting with Ukrainian defenders.
Oil surged above $111 a barrel on Friday in a volatile session on fears of disruptions to Russian oil supplies following Western sanctions.
India is the world’s third largest importer of crude oil and rising prices are adding to its trade and current account deficit, hurting the rupee and fueling imported inflation.
“Global bourses are seeing a sharp sell-off as reports of a Russian attack on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine keep tensions high. Rising oil prices, along with uncertainty over a disruption to the supply chain, have raised fears that inflation could exceed RBI tolerance, albeit temporarily. Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, told PTI news agency.
Investors’ wealth fell more than Ukraine’s GDP
Both sensex and Nifty have been under pressure for the last two weeks, mainly due to the escalation of the crisis between Russia and Ukraine.
The market capitalization of companies listed on the BSE fell to Rs 246.79 billion at the end of today’s trading. Investors lost 4.26 million rupees today.
At the end of the previous session, the m-cap was Rs 251.05 crore.
In total, since February 14, BSE sensex has crashed at 3669 points. Despite markets staying in the green for the two sessions in between, market sentiment remained low on most days.
Since February 16, the markets have been consistently falling, except on February 25, when the senex gained 1329 points after the markets recovered.
At the end of trading on February 16, the capitalization of companies listed on the BSE was Rs 262.18 crore. From this level, investors have lost Rs 15.39 crore to date. In dollar terms, this is about $201.8 billion.
Data released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) showed that Ukraine’s gross domestic product (GDP) was $181.03 billion in 2021.
This clearly shows that investors in India have lost more money in the last 15 days than Ukraine’s total GDP.
War continues to shake world markets
Stocks fell to a yearly low in Europe on Friday as bonds, commodities and oil surged as investors fled for shelter in the face of an escalating war in Ukraine as Russia seized a large nuclear power plant.
On Wall Street, futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9%.
In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 2.2% to 25,985.47, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 2.5% to 21,905.29. In Seoul, Kospi fell 1.2% to 2713.43. The Shanghai Composite index lost 1% to 3447.65 points.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 1.78% on Friday from 1.85% at the end of Thursday.
(According to agencies)