Sensex Crash Today | Market Crash Highlights : Sensex, Nifty close down more than 1%; PSU Bank, Realty fall the most

Sensex Today Live : Capping a day of tumultuous trading, when markets saw the benchmark indices crash, both Sensex and Nifty closed down more than 1%.

Having opened at 73,162.82, the Sensex touched a low of 72,229.64 during the day's trade, but pared some losses to end the day at 72,304.88, down 790.34 points, or 1.08%.

Meanwhile the Nifty, that had opened at 22,214.10, touched a low of 21,923.50 during the day. At close, it was down 247.20 points, or 1.11%, at 21,951.15.

HUL, Infosys, and TCS, were the only stocks that ended the day in green on the Sensex, while Power Grid Corp., IndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki India, Wipro, and Tata Steel, were the biggest losers.

On the Nifty, Power Grid Corp., Bajaj Auto, Apollo Hospital Enterprises, Eicher Motors, and IndusInd bank were the biggest losers, while HUL, Airtel, Infosys, and TCS, ended the day in gained.

The broader market was deep in the red at closing bell, with the Midcap index down 1.94%, and the Smallcap index down 1.87%.

Across sectors, Nifty Media closed down 3.46%, while PSU Bank, Oil & Gas, Realty and Auto indices were down more than 2%.

That apart, Bank closed down 1.34%, while Metal and Private Bank indices were down more than 1%. Rest of the sector indices also ended the day in the red.

Sensex Today Live : Across sectors, Media, PSU Bank, and Realty indices were down more than 2%, while Oil & Gas, Bank, Auto, Metal, and Private Bank indices were down more than 1%.

Sensex Today Live : The broader market were deep in the red, with the Midcap index down 1.69%, while the Smallcap index was down 1.57%.

Sensex Today Live : Power Grid Corp., Apollo Hospitals, Eicher Motors, Maruti Suzuki India and IndusInd bank were the biggest losers on the Nifty 50, while Infosys, TCS, HUL, Airtel, and HDFC Life gained.  

Sensex Today Live : TCS, Infosys, HUL, and Airtel were the only gainers on Sensex, while Power Grid Corp., Maruti Suzuki India, IndusInd Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Asian Paints were the biggest losers. 

Sensex Today Live : Indian benchmark indices were deep in the red in the afternoon.

At 3 pm, Sensex was down 673.11 points, or 0.92%, at 72,422.11, and Nifty was down 227 points, or 1.02%, at 21,971.35.

Sensex Today Live : Purv Flexipack IPO has opened for subscription on Tuesday, February 27, and will close on Thursday, February 29. Purv Flexipack IPO price band has been set in the range of ₹70 to ₹71 apiece of face value of ₹10 each. Purv Flexipack IPO lot size consists of 1,600 shares. Investors can bid for a minimum of 1,600 shares and in multiples thereof.

Purv Flexipack IPO has reserved not more than 50% of the shares in the public issue for qualified institutional buyers (QIB), not less than 15% for non-institutional Institutional Investors (NII), and not less than 35% of the offer is reserved for retail investors. The market maker category has been reserved upto 3,48,800 equity shares.

Sensex Today Live : Budget airline SpiceJet and Celestial Aviation, a subsidiary of AerCap, one of the world's largest aircraft lessors, have amicably settled their $29.9 million ( ₹250 Crore) dispute, avoiding a prolonged legal battle, on February 29, an official release said.

The settlement was reached through mutual negotiations and approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) last week. The formal withdrawal of the case is scheduled for March 1, 2024.

In August last year, Celestial Aviation Services initiated insolvency proceedings actions against SpiceJet, citing a failure to pay $29.9 million for leasing nine aircraft.

Sensex Today Live : India's booming economy has fuelled a surge in investments in expensive watches, art and other luxury collectibles among the country’s super-rich. Opulent symbols of wealth such as Rolex watches and MF Husain artworks offer the ultra-rich not only status but also potentially lucrative returns. For India’s 1%, who account for 40% of the country’s wealth, rare timepieces and exquisite artworks offer ways to diversify their portfolios. (Read the full story here.)

Sensex Today Live : Two sectors that have emerged as top wealth creators in the stock market over the last year are defence and railways.

Defence stocks have seen a significant uptrend in recent years, bolstered by the government's push for indigenisation. Railway stocks, on the other hand, received a major lift from the 2023 Union Budget, which prioritized sectoral spending.

Despite the substantial rise in these stocks, investors are keenly watching for opportunities. But which railway and defence stocks are poised to continue their growth trajectory in 2024 and beyond?

So which railway and defence stocks could continue to shine in 2024 and beyond? (Read the full story here.)

Sensex Today Live : Indian benchmark indices were deep in the red in the afternoon.

At 1 pm, Sensex was down 513.31 points, or 0.70%, at 72,581.91, and Nifty was down 171.75 points, or 0.77%, at 22,026.60.

Sensex Today Live : The State Bank of India's (SBI) research 'Ecowrap' states that the GDP growth for the December quarter of the fiscal year 2024 (Q3FY24) – to be announced tomorrow – is likely to be 6.8 percent, assuming no changes to the base figures. However, there is potential for it to reach 7 percent in case of any downward revisions in the GDP growth figures for the third quarter of the fiscal year 2023 (Q3FY23). These revisions in the previous year's data could positively impact the current year's growth figures.

As per the report, the CLI Index (a basket of 41 leading indicators which include parameters from almost all the sectors) based on monthly data shows a slight moderation in economic activity in Q3. Factoring the slight decline in economic activity in Q3 FY24, it estimates GDP should grow in the range of 6.7-6.9 percent with a Gross Value Added (GVA) growth of 6.6 percent.

According to the government’s first estimates, the Indian economy will grow at 7.3 percent in FY24, faster than the RBI’s upwardly revised estimate of 7 percent. The World Bank expects the Indian economy to grow 6.3 percent in FY24, while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently revised its estimate from 6.3 percent to 6.5 percent.

Sensex Today Live : India's thermal coal imports are expected to fall for the first time this year since the COVID-19 pandemic due to increasing domestic output and record-high inventories, industry officials said on Tuesday.

Out of eleven coal traders Reuters spoke with at the Coaltrans India conference in the western state of Goa, eight expected shipments of the fuel to decrease this year, while the others foresaw flat imports or marginal growth.

Surging production and supplies by the world's largest miner Coal India have pushed stockpiles at power plants to record highs of over 43 million metric tons, prompting it to sell more to non-power sector users such as sponge iron and aluminium smelters, which have traditionally imported the fuel.

Pawan Kumar, head of coal sourcing at power producer SEIL Energy India, said he expects thermal coal imports to fall over 3% to 170 million tons, while Rodrigo Echeverri, head of research at Noble Resources, forecast a near-6% decline.

India imported 176 million tons of thermal coal in 2023, driven mainly by power plants.

Sensex Today Live : Travel booking platform EaseMyTrip has tied up with SaaS fintech company Zaggle Prepaid Ocean Services that specializes in spend management solutions to provide EaseMyTrip's corporate clients with a streamlined and efficient way to manage their travel and expense needs.

Through this partnership, the company's corporate clients will gain access to Zaggle's Expense Management System (EMS) platform. Rikant Pittie, Co-Founder of EaseMyTrip said; “We're excited about our strategic partnership with Zaggle, a leading SaaS FinTech player. By integrating travel booking with expense reporting, we offer a streamlined workflow, policy compliance, and real-time visibility into travel expenditure to our corporate clients.’’

Sensex Today Live : Indian benchmark indices were deep in the red in the afternoon.

At 1 pm, Sensex was down 678.34 points, or 0.93%, at 72,416.88, and Nifty was down 216.75 points, or 0.98%, at 21,981.60.

Sensex Today Live : Maruti Suzuki India is likely to be a key beneficiary as customer preference seems to be gradually shifting towards hybrid vehicles from electric vehicles (EVs), analysts said. Maruti Suzuki India is working on multiple technologies, such as Hybrids, EVs, Flex-fuel and Biogas in addition to ICE and CNG as the company believes multiple technologies can co-exist in the medium-to-long term.

“The company had a foresight back then (when it launched CNG) and we believe its current tech-agnostic approach is again a well-thought-out approach against committing resources to a single technology," JM Financial said, adding that tax rationalization on Hybrids could act as a fillip and shift consumer preference towards this choice of powertrain. "Given the evolving global landscape and Maruti Suzuki’s tech-agnostic approach, we remain positive on the company," JM Financial said.

The brokerage firm maintained a ‘Buy’ rating on Maruti Suzuki shares and raised the target price to ₹13,000 per share from ₹12,250 earlier, implying an upside of over 13% from Tuesday’s closing price.

Sensex Today Live : The bankrupt financial services company Reliance Capital will be delisted from the bourses, following the completion of its acquisition by Hinduja Group entity IndusInd International Holdings Ltd, the company said, citing its Approved Resolution Plan, in an exchange filing on February 28.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had on Tuesday approved the ₹9,650-crore resolution plan of IndusInd International Holdings Ltd (IIHL), to acquire bankrupt Reliance Capital Ltd.

Sensex Today Live : The fall in the benchmark indices was mirrored across sectors, with the Media index down 2.89%, while the Realty index was down 2.28% and the PSU Bank down 2.21%. Oil & Gas, Auto and Metal indices were also down more than 1%.

Sensex Today Live : The broader market was deep in the red with the Midcap index down 1.38%, while the Smallcap index had fallen 1.69%.

Sensex Today Live : GHDFC Life, TCS, Infosys, HUL, and SBI Life, were the top gainers on the Nifty 50, while Bajaj Auto, Apollo Hospital Enterprises, Power Grid Corp., Maruti, and Wipro were the top losers.