An escalation in tensions following firing of a missile by North Korea over Japan had investors on knife-edge today as both the Sensex and the Nifty took a sharp fall, in line with a general weakness across the globe.
For the Nifty, the fall was the most in over nine months while for the Sensex, this was the worst single-day performance over a month.
The Sensex hurtled straight down to 31,388.39 -- a one- week low -- plunging over 362 points and the NSE Nifty cracked below the 9,800 mark, registering their first loss after a four-day winning streak.
The Korean peninsula was on the boil after North Korea fired the ballistic missile that flew over Japan before plunging into the Pacific Ocean, officials said today, in a clear message of defiance as Washington and Seoul conduct war games nearby.
This rankled investors worldwide, with Asian stocks hitting a soft patch. The negativity affected Indian markets, already cautious ahead of the August derivatives expiry On Thursday. European shares opened in the red too.
At the close, the 30-share BSE index was down by 362.43 points -- 1.14 per cent -- at 31,388.39, its lowest closing since August 22 when it came in at 31,291.85.
During the day, it shuttled between 31,360.81 and 31,739.80. This is biggest single day fall since July 18 when it had lost 363.79 points. The gauge had gained 491.97 points in the previous four sessions.
The risk appetite was hit so badly that the wider NSE Nifty settled lower by 116.75 points -- 1.18 per cent -- its biggest single-day fall in over 9 months at 9,796.05.
Investors also moved in to lock profit after the recent rally in the stocks.
"Concerns of heavy floods in the financial capital and the heavy selling by FIIs in equities over the past one month ensured risk appetite was down to a trickle, especially as Asian markets were in a sea of red following North Korea threats," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
NTPC emerged as the biggest loser plunging 2.80 per cent to Rs 168.50 after the government said it would sell 5 per cent stake in the country's largest power producer at Rs 168 to raise about Rs 7,000 crore.
Others that lost were Sun Pharma, Reliance Industries, ONGC, HDFC Ltd, Coal India and Bharti Airtel, losing by up to 2.35 per cent.
Shares of ACC, Bank of Baroda, Tata Power and Tata Motors DVR too were under pressure and fell by up to 2.78 per cent as these companies will move out of the NSE's benchmark Nifty 50 index from September 29. HPCL and UPL rose up to 0.71 per cent after the NSE decided to include them in the Nifty 50.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net sold shares worth Rs 124.74 crore yesterday while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) remained net buyers for the 15th straight day, making purchases worth of Rs 476.26 crore, showed provisional data.
In keeping with the overall trend, the small-cap and mid indices shed up to 1.05 per cent.
The BSE infrastructure index fell the most by falling 1.86 per cent, followed by power, consumer durables and PSU.
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