Sensex drops below 76k-mark; Nifty falls lower than 23,000 dragged by trade war fears, FII outflows

Mumbai: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty slumped in initial trade on Wednesday as unabated foreign fund outflows and trade war fears continued to unnerve investors.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex declined 274.56 points to 76,019.04 in early trade. The NSE Nifty dropped 78.45 points to 22,993.35.

Both the benchmark indices further declined in the trade with the Nifty falling below the crucial 23,000-mark to trade at 22,915.40, down 156.40 points. The BSE benchmark gauge also dropped below 76,000-level to quote at 75,668.97, down 645.04 points.

In the past five days, the BSE bellwether gauge has slumped 2,290.21 points or 2.91 per cent, while the Nifty tanked 667.45 points or 2.81 per cent.

From the 30-share blue-chip pack, Mahindra & Mahindra, Zomato, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, ITC and Adani Ports were the biggest laggards.

Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech and Hindustan Unilever were among the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,486.41 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

"Dalal Street is gripped by pessimism as fears mount over further declines if Nifty slips below the crucial 23,000-mark. Key factors weighing on sentiment include Rs 1 lakh crore in FII outflows this year and ongoing concerns about Trump's tariff threats," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

In Asian markets, Shanghai quoted lower while Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory

US markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.34 per cent to USD 76.74 a barrel.

Declining for the fifth day running on Tuesday, the BSE Sensex dropped 1,018.20 points or 1.32 per cent to settle at a two-week low of 76,293.60. The Nifty cracked 309.80 points or 1.32 per cent to 23,071.80.