Sensex Drops Over 500 Points, Nifty Near 13,800 On Weak Global Cues

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a gap down opening on Thursday on the back of weak global cues ahead of expiry of January futures and option contracts due later in the day. The Sensex fell as much as 589 points to hit an intraday low of 46,821 and Nifty 50 index was hovering around its important psychological level of 13,800. Asian shares slid on Thursday while the safe-haven dollar rallied as a sudden sell-off on Wall Street and delays with coronavirus vaccines shook investor optimism about an early recovery for the global economy.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.2 per cent, with valuations looking stretched given the index had risen more than 6 per cent just this month.

Overnight, Wall Street suffered its biggest one-day percentage drop in three months on Wednesday; The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 633.87 points, or 2.05 per cent, to 30,303.17, the S&P 500 lost 98.85 points, or 2.57 per cent, to 3,750.77 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 355.47 points, or 2.61 per cent, to 13,270.60.

(With inputs from Reuters)