Closing Bell: Sensex crashes 587 points, Nifty below 10,750 amid market sell-off; Yes Bank tanks 12%

Indian shares ended over 1.5 percent lower on Thursday, dragged by banking and realty indices, as investors awaited news on fiscal stimulus and US Federal Reserve chairman’s speech later this week. Fall in rupee also contributed to the decline.

The Sensex ended 587 points down at 36,473, while the broader Nifty50 index lost 177 points to end the day at 10,741. In broader markets, the Nifty Midcap fell 1.9 percent and Nifty Smallcap index tanked 2.8 percent.

The minutes of the Fed’s July meeting showed policymakers deeply divided over rate cuts, while hopes for a fiscal stimulus dimmed as US President Donald Trump said he was not looking at cutting payroll taxes.

Meanwhile, markets awaited news on an economic stimulus from the Indian government amid a bruising slowdown that has hammered industries including the crucial automotive sector, leading to production cuts and job losses.

Britannia, Dr Reddy's Tech Mahindra, TCS and HUL, were top gainers on the Nifty50, while Yes Bank, Vedanta, Indiabulls Housing, Bajaj Finserv, and Bajaj Finance led the losses.

All sectoral indices, except the Nifty IT ended in red for the day. The Nifty Realty index fell the most, down 6.7 percent, followed by the Nifty Metal, down 3.6 percent. The Nifty PSU Bank declined 3.5 percent, while the Nifty Bank and the Nifty Private Bank declined around 2.5 percent each. Meanwhile, the Nifty IT gained 0.23 percent on the lower rupee.

DLF stock fell 16.7 percent to its 52-week low of Rs 140.55 after Supreme Court issued a notice to the company for suppressing material information from shareholders.

LIC Housing shares tumbled 10 percent after 7.7 percent equity was traded through a block deal. Fidelity Management is likely sold sell stake in the company, reported CNBC-TV18. Around 3.3 crore shares were traded at Rs 431 per share amounting to Rs 1,261 crore.

Globally, Asian shares were also muted as uncertainty over the outlook for US interest rate cuts following the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting kept investors on edge. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down about 0.35 percent.