The US Federal Reserve's signal to withdraw additional liquidity support and sliding rupee shook investor sentiment today as the benchmark CNX Nifty crashed by a massive 166 points and settled below the 5,700 mark on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
All-round frantic selling rattled the market which traded under intense pressure throughout the day. Banking stocks suffered the worst followed by FMCG, energy, metal, technology, auto and infra counters.
The Nifty nosedived by 166.35 points, or 2.86 per cent, to end at 5,655.90 over its previous close. The 50-share index touched an intra-day low of 5,645.65 in early trade.
Indian markets, which have possibly been the biggest beneficiary of the Fed's liquidity inflows, reacted sharply after the US central bank said it is likely to slow down its monetary stimulus programme later this year and end it in 2014 due to improvement in US macroeconomic outlook.
Besides shares, the Fed move also cast a shadow on currency, bond and commodity markets, which reported heavy sell-off.
The rupee fell to close at an all-time low of 59.57 against the dollar after retreating from nearly 60-levels.
Financial markets worldwide went in a tizzy after the Federal Reserve indication.
After a gap-down opening, the key index swiftly drifted lower and broke the 5,700 level. The sell-off intensified later and continued till the close of trade.
Jindal Steel, JP Associates, DLF, Tata Steel, Reliance Infra, IndusInd Bank, Hindalco, Bank of Baroda, IDFC and PNB were the key laggards from the Nifty bunch.
Sun Pharma and Ambuja Cement are among select index stocks that managed to the withstand the selling fury and ended with gains.
Turnover in the cash segment jumped to Rs 11,279.34 crore from Rs 8,774.14 crore yesterday. A total of 5,966.68 lakh shares changed hands in 57,45,920 trades. The market capitalisation stood at Rs 61,61,887 crore.
