Nifty tanks 94 pts as panic grips world markets

Equities continued their fall for the third straight day as global meltdown fears remained unabated, with the benchmark Nifty tumbling over 94 points today to close below the 7,400 mark -- its lowest level in two weeks.
Indian markets felt the heat from global equities rout after a sharp dive in oil prices over the past two days shattered investor confidence and revived fears of a global recession, triggering frantic unwinding.
The depreciating rupee, which again breached the 68-barrier against the dollar also dented sentiments.
After a gap-down start, key indices kept on descending following heavy unwinding from domestic players and investors, tracking correction in global peers amid a plunge in crude oil prices.

The investor sentiment was so badly hit that even better monthly PMI data, which showed that India's services activity rose to a 19-month high of 54.3 in January from 53.6 in December, failed to stem the slide.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's Nikkei led the fall, dropping 3.36 per cent, followed by Hang Seng (2.34 per cent), Kopsi (0.84 per cent) and Shanghai (0.35 per cent).

The 50-share Nifty resumed sharply lower at 7,392.45 and fluctuated between 7,419.40 and 7,350.30 before concluding at 7,361.80, a steep loss of 93.75 points, or 1.26 per cent.
Among the sectoral indices, realty suffered the worst, sliding by 2.99 per cent, followed by metal (2.64 per cent), infra (2.13 per cent), energy (2.00 per cent), auto (1.70 per cent), PSU Bank (1.89 per cent), Nifty Bank (1.55 per cent), IT (1.07 per cent), pharma (0.72 per cent) and media (0.63 per cent). FMCG, however, withstood the carnage.

In the broader market, the damage was far worse, with the small-cap and mid-cap crashing by 3.18 and 1.39 per cent, respectively.
Biggest index draggers for the day included ICICI Bank, Reliance, Infosys, HDFC, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ITC, HCL-Tech, SBI, NTPC, L&T, Kotak Bank, Asian Paint, Bosch, ONGC, Wipro, Maruti, Cipl and Adani Ports.
The key outperformers were HUL, TCS, Yes Bank and Zee.
Turnover in cash segment dropped to Rs 16,255.93 crore from Rs 17,364.83 crore yesterday. A total of 11,408.69 lakh shares changed hands in 75,90,895 trades.
The market capitalisation of NSE stood at Rs 89,57,590 crore.