Market bleeds as Omicron, taper trigger global retreat

Mumbai, December 17

The Sensex plummeted 889 points while the Nifty sank below the 17,000-mark on Friday, in line with a selloff in global markets as hawkish central banks and rising Omicron cases sparked a retreat from riskier assets.

Continued selling by foreign institutional investors put further pressure on domestic bourses, traders said.

IndusInd Bank top laggard

• IndusInd Bank was the top laggard on the Sensex chart, shedding 4.89%, followed by Kotak Bank, HUL, Titan, HDFC, Bajaj Finserv and SBI

The Sensex tumbled 889.40 points to finish at 57,011.74. Similarly, the Nifty plunged 263.20 points to 16,985.20.

IndusInd Bank was the top laggard on the Sensex chart, shedding 4.89%, followed by Kotak Bank, HUL, Titan, HDFC, Bajaj Finserv and SBI.

In value terms, Reliance Industries and HDFC twins accounted for around half of the benchmark’s losses.

Only five index components managed to close in the green — Infosys, HCL Tech, PowerGrid, Sun Pharma and TCS, spurting up to 2.84%. — PTI