Mumbai, Oct. 30 -- Equity markets fell sharply on Thursday, with the Sensex tumbling 592.67 points and the Nifty declining to 25,877.85 level, as fresh foreign fund outflows and uncertainty on the future course of rate action by the US Federal Reserve dampened investors' sentiment.
The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 592.67 points or 0.70 per cent to settle at 84,404.46. During the day, it dropped 684.48 points or 0.80 per cent to 84,312.65. A total of 2,291 stocks declined while 1,876 advanced and 155 remained unchanged on the BSE.
The 50-share NSE Nifty tumbled 176.05 points or 0.68 per cent to 25,877.85.
From the Sensex firms, Bharti Airtel, Power Grid, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Bajaj Finance and Reliance Industries were among the major laggards.
However, Larsen & Toubro, Bharat Electronics, UltraTech Cement and Maruti were among the gainers.
"Equity benchmarks slipped on Thursday as cautious commentary from the US Federal Reserve and renewed foreign fund outflows weighed on sentiment. The Fed's 25 bps rate cut was in line with expectations, but Chair Jerome Powell's indication of a pause in further easing dampened risk appetite, especially amid the ongoing US government shutdown," Gaurav Garg, Research Analyst, Lemonn Markets Desk, said.
FIIs offloaded equities worth Rs 2,540.16 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
DIIs bought equities worth Rs 5,692.81 crore in the previous trade.
The BSE smallcap gauge dipped 0.06 per cent and midcap index ended unchanged.
BSE telecommunication tanked 2.52 per cent, teck (1.02 per cent), bankex (0.72 per cent), financial services (0.59 per cent) and BSE Focused IT (0.55 per cent). Energy, industrials, capital goods, oil & gas and realty ended higher.
In Asian markets, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index settled lower while South Korea's Kospi and Japan's Nikkei 225 index ended in the positive territory.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.