Indices lose up to 1.3% as trade uncertainty between US and China hits markets globally
Indian stocks slumped to a two-month low on Wednesday, tracking weakness in global markets amid renewed trade uncertainty between the world’s two largest economies—the US and China. The Sensex and Nifty logged a sixth consecutive day of losses, taking the total decline across these sessions to more than 3% while Rs. 5.58 lakh crore of market capitalisation was wiped out on the BSE. The Sensex fell 487.5 points or 1.3% to close at 37,789.13 and the NSE Nifty slipped 138.45 points or 1.2% to end at 11,359.45 on Wednesday. Other Asian markets fell 0.4-1.5%. The BSE SmallCap index also logged a sixth day of losses, ending down 1.2% while the BSE MidCap index fell 1%, ending down for the eighth consecutive session. The Bank Nifty also closed at a two-month low. Reliance Industries has contributed about 300 points out of the near 1,300-point fall in the Sensex in the last six sessions. The risk-off sentiment was reflected in overseas flows, with foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) offloading Indian shares worth Rs. 701.5 crore on Wednesday on a provisional basis. Domestic institutional investors were net buyers of Indian stocks worth Rs. 233 crore.
