Russia’s invasion of Ukraine launched a full-fledged attack on Indian equities on Thursday, with benchmarks dropping as much as 5 per cent. Commodities markets, meanwhile, surged with Brent oil extending gains above $100 a barrel (at $105 now) for the first time since 2014, while gold jumped as investors scrambled for havens. The monthly F&O expiry also added to deeper cuts during the fag-end of the session.
Earlier today, Russian forces attacked targets across Ukraine after President Vladimir Putin ordered an operation to “demilitarize” the country, prompting international condemnation and a US threat of further “severe sanctions” on Moscow, sending markets tumbling worldwide. As things stands, US, EU, and UK are set to announce stricter sanctions against Russia and Ukraine has cut ties with the invader.
Back home, the frontline S&P BSE Sensex settled near the day’s low level at 54,530, down 2,702 points. On the NSE, the Nifty50 gave up 16,250 level to end at 16,248, down 815 points.
With this, the benchmarks are moving from ‘correction zone’ to ‘bear zone’ as they have plunged nearly 16 per cent from their January peaks. This was also their biggest one-day fall since March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic had roiled the markets.
All 50 counters on the broader NSe index ended deep in the red with Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, UPL, Grasim, Adani Ports, Hero Moto, JSW Steel, M&M, and HDFC Life plummeting between 6 and 11 per cent.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and the BSE SmallCap indices slumped 5.5 per cent and 5.7 per cent, respectively.
Individually, Bank of India, Apollo Tyres, BHEL, Vodafone Idea, IDFC First Bank, L&T Housing Finance, LIC Housing Finance, HEG, Rain Industries, NBCC, HFCL, and Alok Industries plunged up to 14 per cent.
Paint, aviation, tyre, and OMCs, which are heavily dependent on crude derivatives as their raw material, plummeted up to 10 per cent.
Overall, advance to decline ratio was 1:21 on the NSE and 1:14 on the BSE. Fear gauge, India VIX, jumped to a 20-month high of 32, up 33 per cent.
Sectorally, the Nifty PSU Bank tumbled over 8 per cent, Realty index 7.5 per cent, Private Bank 6 per cent, and Metal and IT indices 5 per cent. The Nifty Bank index, meanwhile, slipped over 2,100 points or 6 per cent to end at 35,200 level.
Global markets
European stocks plunged 3 per cent on Thursday as investors dumped riskier assets after Russia attacked Ukraine. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 2.9 per cent – hitting its lowest since May 2021 while marking a correction or 10 per cent decline from its January record high.
The German DAX fell 3.7 per cent to March 2021 lows, bearing the biggest brunt of the sell-off on fears over the country’s heavy reliance on energy supplies from Russia.
In US, Dow futures fell 655 points, or 1.98 per cent, while futures tied to the S&P 500 were down 1.99 per cent. Nasdaq 100 futures declined 2.65 per cent.