Pedestrians walk past the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai.
BSE benchmark Sensex fell over 1,000 points and NSE Nifty broke below the key 17,000 level in opening deals on Tuesday, reflecting a fall in global equity markets.
Sensex was trading 1,015 points or 1.76 per cent lower at 56,668.60, and Nifty was trading 285.40 points or 1.66 per cent lower at 16,921.25 – extending its losses for the fifth consecutive session. All the 30 constituents of Sensex were trading with heavy losses.
VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said, “Tensions in Ukraine have escalated with Russia recognizing two pro-Russian rebel zones. The economic consequences are already more visible in crude oil and gold prices. Huh.”
The biggest macro headwind for India is crude racing at USD 97 a barrel, he said, adding that the consequences of its inflation will force the RBI to abandon its sluggish monetary stance.
Foreign institutional investors continued their sell-off, selling shares worth Rs 2,261.90 crore in the Indian capital market on Monday, exchange data showed.
Other Asian markets followed Wall Street’s path overnight on Tuesday and the Russia-Ukraine standoff led to a massive sell-off in European equities.
In a sign of the growing geopolitical crisis in Eastern Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin has recognized the independence of separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.
Putin’s announcement comes after a meeting of the Presidential Security Council and paves the way for Russia to openly send troops and weapons to Ukrainian forces in the long-running conflict against Moscow-backed rebels.
Meanwhile, India has also expressed deep concern over escalating tensions along the Russia-Ukraine border and said that the development has the potential to undermine the peace and security of the region.
Tracking the Ukraine crisis, Brent crude futures rose 4 per cent to USD 97.35, the highest since September 2014. US stocks fell more than 2 percent on Tuesday.
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