Sensex Sinks Below 73,000 Amid Global Equity Rout

Mumbai, Mar 4 (PTI) Falling for the third straight day, benchmark BSE Sensex declined by 96 points to close below the 73,000 mark on Tuesday amid global equity rout on tariff war worries and persistent foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share BSE barometer closed at 72,989.93, down by 96.01 points or 0.13 per cent, as 18 of its components declined and 12 settled with gains. During the day, it dropped 452.4 points or 0.62 per cent to a low of 72,633.54 but recovered some of the losses in the second half.

Extending the losses for the 10th straight session, the 50-share Nifty of NSE fell by 36.65 points or 0.17 per cent to close at 22,082.65. The index opened below the 22,000 level at 21,974.45 but managed to recover some losses later.

From the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finserv, HCL Technologies, Nestle India, Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Infosys, Maruti Suzuki India, Titan, Hindustan Unilever and Reliance Industries were among the laggards.

On the other hand, State Bank of India, Zomato, Tata Consultancy Services, Adani Ports, Power Grid, Tata Steel and HDFC Bank were the gainers.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, "The domestic market exhibited a recovery from today's lows but remained in negative territory due to adverse global cues related to escalating global trade tensions.”

"Weak global cues continue to weigh on sentiment, but selective buying is limiting the downside," Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd said.

In Asian markets, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul were ended in red, while Shanghai in green territory.

European markets were trading in the negative territory in the mid-session deals. The US markets ended lower on Monday.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude dropped 1.37 per cent to USD 70.64 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,788.29 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

On Monday, the 30-share BSE benchmark declined by 112.16 points to close at 73,085.94. The NSE Nifty slipped 5.40 points extending losses to the ninth session to settle at 22,119.30.