Terrible Thursday: Sensex Sheds 880 Pts, IT Stocks Crack, India VIX Zooms 7%

By Malvika Gurung

Investing.com -- The domestic market ended a volatile session lower on Thursday after making a negative opening, tracking pessimistic sentiments from global markets amid a hawkish outlook by the US Fed at its monetary policy announcement on Wednesday, forecasting higher rates for a longer period.

Indian equity benchmark indices fell under pressure and declined sharply especially towards the last hour of trading on Thursday.

Nifty50 tanked 1.32%, closing near the 18,400 level at 18,414.9, while Sensex shed 878.88 points, sliding below the 62,000 mark to close at 61,799.03. The market volatility barometer India VIX zoomed 6.57% to 13.73.

All sectoral indices under the Nifty umbrella ended deep in red, led by Nifty IT , while Nifty Media and Nifty PSU Bank followed suit. Nifty Bank tanked 1.25%.

Only 5 stocks on the 50-scrip Nifty index ended the session in green, led by Britannia (NS: BRIT ), Hero Moto and NTPC (NS: NTPC ), while industry heavyweights Infosys (NS: INFY ), Tech Mahindra (NS: TEML ) and Titan (NS: TITN ) headed the loss.

Barring Sun Pharmaceuticals (NS: SUN ) and NTPC, all the constituents of Sensex ended the session in red.

While a 50 bps benchmark rate hike was anticipated by the Street on Wednesday after a two-day FOMC policy meeting, the Fed’s hawkish outlook on economic projections of increasing unemployment and economic growth nearly stalling, soured the market mood.

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