Stock market highlights on April 12, 2024: Indian equity benchmark indices fell sharply in trades on Friday as investors preferred to book profit amid uncertainty over the US Fed rate cut timing, start of the Q4 earnings season and concerns of rising tensions between Iran and Israel.
In the last two trading sessions, global markets exhibited volatility after hotter-than-expected US CPI inflation print dashed hopes of a rate cut in June. Further, the European Central Bank too left its key rate unchanged.
That apart, the market mood remained subdued on fears of selling pressure from Mauritius-based Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) as reports suggested that they may face higher scrutiny post amendment in the India-Mauritius tax treaty, which introduced a principle purpose test (PPT) to prevent treaty abuse by taxpayers.
The S&P BSE Sensex, which resumed trading after Thursday's holiday, slid to lower levels in second half of the trading session. The BSE benchmark hit a low of 74,189 and finally settled with a loss of 793 points at 74,245.
The NSE Nifty 50 plunged to a low of 22,504 and ended at 22,519 - down 234 points.
Among the Sensex 30 stocks, Sun Pharma plunged 4 per cent, and Maruti shed 3.5 per cent. Power Grid, Titan, JSW Steel, Tech Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Larsen & Toubro, Infosys, SBI, Axis Bank, Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Wipro, Asian Paints and HDFC Bank were the other significant losers.
TCS, however, managed to end 0.5 per cent higher ahead of its Q4 results later today.
READ MORE In the broader market, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices declined around 0.5 per cent each.
 "Sensex sinks 800pts on global worries; Bharti Hexacom up 43% on debut; Maruti, Sun Pharma crack 3%")
