Sensex sinks 1172 points; Infosys records worst slump in two years

Mumbai: The Indian equities markets key indices, Sensex and Nifty, slumped by around 2 per cent on Monday making investors poorer by around Rs 4 lakh crore as IT and banking stocks crashed after the sectoral heavyweights, Infosys and HDFC Bank, announced disappointing financial results.

The 30 stock S&P BSE Sensex tanked 1172.19 points or 2.01 per cent to 57,166.74 points against its previous session's close at 58,338.93 points. After four days of holiday, the Sensex started trading on Monday sharply down at 57,338.58 points and slumped to a low of 56,842.39 points in the intra-day.

This is the fourth consecutive day of slump in the key indices. The Sensex had lost 237.44 points or 0.41 per cent on Wednesday, the last trading day.

The broader Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange crashed 302 points or 1.73 per cent to 17,173.65 points against its previous session's close at 17,475.65 points. The Nifty opened sharply down at 17,183.45 points and dipped to a low of 17,067.85 points in the intra-day.

There was heavy selling pressure in IT stocks. Infosys crashed 7.27 per cent to Rs 1621.45. This is the steepest single day fall in Infosys share price in two years.

Tech Mahindra slumped 4.69 per cent to Rs 1344.25. Wipro tanked 3.67 per cent to Rs 538.75. TCS slumped 3.63 per cent to Rs 3528.45. HCL Technologies slumped 1.99 per cent to Rs 1102.75.

HDFC Bank dipped 4.74 per cent to Rs 1395.35. HDFC tanked 4.81 per cent to Rs 2263.05. State Bank of India dipped 1.57 per cent to Rs 509.40.

The index heavyweight Reliance Industries fell 0.33 per cent to Rs 2544.15.

Only 10 of the 30 stocks that are part of the Sensex closed in the positive. NTPC surged 6.11 per cent to Rs 163.30. Tata Steel jumped 1.51 per cent to Rs 1339.20. Maruti Suzuki soared 1.37 per cent to Rs 7574.55. Titan, Hindustan Unilever, Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid Corporation and Nestle India were among the major Sensex gainers.