Sensex skids 394 points to settle at 38,220; Nifty tests 11,300 – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Equity indices finished lower on Thursday with the benchmark BSE sensex falling nearly 400 points dragged by banking and financial stocks amid selloff in global markets.
The 30-share BSE index fell 394 points or 1.02 per cent to close at 38,220; while the broader NSE Nifty plunged 96 points or 0.84 per cent to settle at 11,312.
Top laggards in the sensex pack included HDFC, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Titan, M&M, Reliance, ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank with their shares falling up to 2.35 per cent.
While NTPC, ONGC, Power Grid, Tata Steel and HCL Tech were the only gainers rising up to 6.87 per cent.
On the NSE platform, sub-indices Nifty Bank, Private Bank and Financial Services fell as much as 1.31 per cent.
According to traders, domestic bourses followed negative trend in global equities as selloff emerged after the US Federal Reserve released the minutes from its latest policy meeting.
Umesh Mehta, head of research at Samco Securities told news agency Reuters: “It is a knee-jerk reaction to news coming out of the United States. Everyone knows the economy is in a bad state but times like this allows for price correction in a market where valuations are high.”
The Fed’s minutes showed that policy makers are finding it difficult to forecast the path of the economy, as the coronavirus likely would continue to dampen economic growth.
Meanwhile, rupee plunged 20 paise and settled below the 75 per US dollar mark as strengthening American currency and losses in domestic equities weighed on investor sentiment.
(With agencyinputs)