A fairly stable equity market until noon on Thursday saw a bloodbath within minutes after the government announced that the Indian Army had conducted “surgical strikes” on terrorist launchpads in Pakistan the previous night.

Almost immediately, the benchmark Sensex fell over 500 points, losing nearly 2 per cent. It recovered marginally by market close, to end 465 points lower at 27,827.53. The Nifty ended the day 1.76 per cent lower, at 8.591.25.

Foreign institutional investors took the opportunity to pick up net equity of ₹3,413 crore, while domestic institutions also bought net equity of ₹1,630 crore. Retail investors sold net equity of ₹13.39 crore on the BSE.

Volatility shot through the roof with the India Vix index, rising 33.24 points to 18.24, the highest rise in seven years.

The negative sentiment weighed on the rupee as well, with the unit closing 37 paise lower at 66.85 to the dollar over the previous close. Intra-day, the rupee touched a low of 66.95 and a high of 66.42.

Poor debut for ICICI Pru Shares of ICICI Prudential, India’s first life insurer to go for an IPO, had a poor debut, losing nearly 11 per cent on their day of listing due to the weak market sentiment.

The scrip opened at ₹330 on the NSE, touched a high of ₹333.90 and slipped to a low of ₹295.15 before closing the day at ₹295.85, down 10.35 per cent.

On the BSE it opened at ₹329 apiece, hit an intra-day high of ₹333.90, and a low of ₹295.5 before closing at ₹297.65, down 9.53 per cent.

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