Mumbai, April 10 (PTI): The BSE benchmark Sensex cracked about 354 points on Wednesday, pressured by a sudden sell-off in HDFC and HDFC Bank amid grim global cues.
The 30-share Sensex lost 353.87 points, or 0.91 per cent, to close at 38,585.35, while the broader NSE Nifty dropped 87.65 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 11,584.30.
HDFC Bank slumped 2.07 per cent, while HDFC lost 1.96 per cent. The HDFC duo collectively accounted for almost half of the Sensex’s 354-point loss.
Traders said the HDFC duo succumbed to a late-session sell-off following reports of PE giant KKR offloading some stake in the two companies.
Market sentiment was also hit by the IMF downgrading the global growth forecast to 3.3 per cent for 2019, they added.
Globally, stocks wobbled after US President Donald Trump threatened to slap tariffs on goods imported from the EU, ratcheting up global trade tensions.
Other top losers in the Sensex pack included Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, TCS, HCL Tech, Tata Steel, SBI, IndusInd Bank and Hero MotoCorp, declining up to 3.28 per cent.
While Tata Motors, HUL, Kotak Bank, Coal India, Sun Pharma, M&M, Bajaj Auto and ONGC were the gainers, spurting up to 4.68 per cent.
“Sentiments were affected on the news that IMF had lowered global economic growth outlook and fresh trade tensions have erupted between US and EU. Investors also seemed to be cautious awaiting Q4 March 2019 earnings beginning later this week,” said Deepak Jasani, Head- Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
The IMF’s World Economic Outlook (WEO) “projects a slowdown in growth in 2019 for 70 per cent of the world economy,” IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath said in a statement.
India is projected to grow at 7.3 per cent in 2019 and 7.5 per cent in 2020, reflecting the recent revision to the national account statistics that indicated somewhat softer underlying momentum, the report said.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net purchased equity worth Rs 1,212.35 crore Tuesday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares to the tune of Rs 688.65 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei dropped 0.53 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.13 per cent. Korea’s Kospi rose 0.49 per cent, while Shanghai Composite Index inched up 0.16 per cent.
In Europe, Frankfurt’s DAX was up 0.41 per cent, Paris CAC 40 rose 0.38 per cent, and London’s FTSE gained 0.02 per cent in early deals.
The benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.67 per cent to USD 71.08 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated 12 paise to 69.18 against the US dollar intra-day.
