Sensex crashes 624 points, Nifty below 11,000 amid worldwide sell-off

The domestic equity markets dropped on Tuesday, joining other global peers, after a string of bad news hit sentiment, prompting investors to seek refuge in safe-haven investments such as gold. Continuing political unrest in Hong Kong, a market rout in Argentina, and trade concerns between the US and China kept investors on tenterhooks.

The Sensex fell 624 points, or 1.67 per cent, to end at 36,958, while the Nifty 50 index dropped 184 points, or 1.7 per cent, to close at 10,926. If not for a 10 per cent jump in shares of Reliance Industries, the Sensex would have dropped nearly 1,000 points. Shares of India’s second-most valuable company rose most in nearly a decade, adding more than Rs 71,000 crore to its market capitalisation, as investors lapped them up on the company’s plan to aggressively reduce debt. Its market cap now stands at Rs 8.08 trillion.

Besides Reliance Industries and Sun Pharma, most other Sensex components ended with losses, as foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) continued to take money off the table amid an uncertain global environment.