Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty suffered heavy losses on December 15, falling over 1% each, on the back of US Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike and its accommodative stance along with weak global markets.
The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 61,799.03, down 878.88 points or 1.40%. During the day, it fell 962.3 points, or 1.53%, to 61,715.61.
The broader NSE Nifty closed 245.40 points, or 1.32%, down at 18,414.90.
From the Sensex pack, Tech Mahindra, Titan, Infosys, HDFC, ITC, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and State Bank of India were the major laggards.
NTPC and Sun Pharma were the only winners.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong closed lower.
Equity exchanges in Europe were trading in the red in mid-session deals. US markets closed in the negative zone on Wednesday.
The US Fed on Wednesday raised interest rates by 50 basis points on expected lines and signaled more hikes to fight inflation. The US central bank raised the interest rate to 4.25-4.50%, the highest level in 15 years.
“The Fed surprised the market by maintaining its dovish tone, as investors were anticipating a softer outlook after the release of better-than-expected inflation numbers.
“IT stocks led the pessimism in the domestic market as fears of a slowdown in global economies increased following Fed’s comments. The market now awaits the decisions of BoE (Bank of England) and ECB (European Central Bank), which A half-point hike is likely to follow,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.
International oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.77% to $82.06 a barrel.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Wednesday as they bought shares worth ₹372.16 crore, according to exchange data.