Sensex plunges by 585 points, IT and pharma stocks suffer

Equity benchmark indices crashed by over 1 per cent on Thursday with broad-based selling across counters triggered by a spike in bond yields impacting inflows by foreign institutional investors.

Market experts said a sharp rise in crude oil prices and its impact on inflation remain major concerns.

The BSE S&P Sensex closed 585 points or 1.17 per cent lower at 49,217 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 163 points or 1.11 per cent to 14,558.

Except for Nifty metal and FMCG which rose marginally, all other sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the negative zone. Nifty IT cracked by 3 per cent while pharma downed by 2.2 per cent, PSU bank by 1.7 per cent and private bank by 1.2 per cent.

Among stocks, HCL Technologies fell by 3.5 per cent to close at Rs 953.15 per share. Infosys slipped by 3.2 per cent, Tata Consultancy Services by 2.3 per cent, Wipro and Tech Mahindra by 2 per cent each.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was down by 2.2 per cent to close at Rs 2,010 per unit.

Among others which lost were Dr Reddy's, Hero MotoCorp, NTPC and Kotak Mahindra Bank. However, FMCG major ITC shot up by 4 per cent to close at Rs 219 per share.

Bajaj Auto was up by 2.9 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra by 0.9 per cent, Tata Motors by 0.7 per cent and Maruti Suzuki by 0.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, Asian shares rose after the US Federal Reserve committed to maintaining accommodative monetary policy and projected a rapid jump in US economic growth this year as the Covid-19 crisis eases.

Japan's Nikkei was up by 1.01 per cent while shares in Hong Kong jumped by 1.28 per cent. South Korea's Kospi was up by 0.61 per cent.

( With inputs from ANI )