Weakness across global markets led to benchmark indices, Nifty and the Sensex closing deeply in the red on Thursday.
The Nifty closed at 5,852, down 91points while the Sensex closed at 19,325 down 317 points.
“The markets turned distinctively weak today and closed at the lowest levels in 2013. We believe this was largely due to the weakness in global markets,” said Dipen Shah, Head-PCG Research, Kotak Securities.
“The minutes of the last Fed meeting have raised concerns that the Fed may withdraw the monetary stimulus if there is some improvement in the economic data. This has raised concerns about fund flows across asset classes, including emerging markets. Indian markets have received substantial FII money over the past few months and any reversal of the same may make markets vulnerable, if matching flows do not come from the domestic participants,” he added.
All the broader and sectoral indices closed in the red. Volatility was up nine per cent and the volatility index India VIX closed at 16.94.
The advance decline ratio of Nifty was 2:47 with one unchanged. Cipla and SunPharma were the only two Nifty gainers while Gail remained unchanged.
Jindal Steel, Tata Steel, R-Infra, Sesa Goa and ICICI Bank were the top five losers.