Stock market benchmark Sensex on Wednesday tumbled over 483 points, its biggest fall in over a month, to settle below the 28,000-level as rout in Shanghai shares and fears of Greek’s eurozone exit rattled investors.
With investors indulging in widespread selling, including in metal and auto shares, the NSE benchmark Nifty also crashed below 8,400-point mark.
A fresh weakness in the rupee against the US dollar also dampened the trading sentiment, equity brokers said.
Investor sentiment was badly hit following a major sell-off in other Asian markets with a nearly 6 per cent crash in Shanghai despite additional measures announced by the government to shore up the tumbling market, they added.
The 30-share index commenced lower and dipped below the psychological 28,000-mark to touch a low of 27,635.72 before ending at 27,687.72, a fall of 483.97 points, or 1.72 per cent.
This is the biggest one-day fall of the Sensex since a plunge of 661 points recorded over a month ago on June 2.
Selling was widespread in the market, which pulled down all the sectoral indices by up to 3.89 per cent.
The broader NSE Nifty also succumbed to all-round selling and slipped below the 8,400-mark to close the session 147.75 points, or 1.74 per cent, to close at 8,363.05.
Intra-day, it hovered between 8,457.50 and 8,341.40.
In line with the trend, broader markets mid-cap and small-cap indices closed lower by 1.30 per cent and 1.28 per cent, respectively.
China mainland index Shanghai Composite dived 5.90 per cent after falling over 8 per cent in early trade. Similarly, Japan’s Nikkei fell 3.14 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 5.84 per cent, its biggest one-day drop since October 2008.
Vedanta was the top Sensex loser, skidding as much as 7.85 per cent, followed by Tata Motors.
Of the 30-share Sensex pack, 29 ended the day lower while Hind Unilever bucked the trend and ended in the positive zone.
Sectorally, the metal index fell the most, followed by auto, realty, banking, PSU, oil and gas and IT.
