Closing Bell on May 9: Persistent FII selling, coupled with nervousness around the Lok Sabha election results, broke the back of market bulls on Thursday. The S&P BSE Sensex crashed 1,062 points, or 1.45 per cent, to end at 72,404. The Nifty50, too, settled below the crucial 22,000-mark at 21,958, down 345 points or 1.55 per cent.
The indices hit intraday lows of 72,334 (down 1,132 points) and 21,932.4 (down 370 points), respectively.
Weighing on the benchmarks was selling in heavyweights like L&T, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, ITC, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, and Bajaj Finance which dropped in the range of 1 per cent to 7 per cent.
Percentage-wise, L&T, Asian Paints, ITC, JSW Steel, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Power Grid, Reliance Industries, and Sun Pharma fell between 2 per cent and 6 per cent.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index declined 2 per cent, and the BSE SmallCap index erased 2.4 per cent.
Among sectors, the Nifty FMCG, Metal, Pharma, and Realty indices shed over 2 per cent each. The Nifty Auto index was the sole winner, up 0.8 per cent.