Sensex Plunges 700 pts, Nifty Below 16,300 Amid Weak Global Cues

The benchmark indices opened in deep red on Friday morning. This comes as talks between Ukraine and Russia have not seemed to make any headway and thus high volatility amid rising commodity and oil prices may continue.

Equity indices relinquished early gains to close in the red for the second straight session on Thursday as surging oil prices amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine sapped risk appetite.

Global Cues

Stocks fell and oil prices eased back Thursday after another bumpy day of trading on Wall Street as markets remained anxious about the broader impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.The S&P 500 shed a 0.7% gain to close 0.5% lower, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.6%, weighed down by technology stocks, which accounted for a big share of the market’s decline. The pullback left the indexes on pace for weekly losses.

Hong Kong stocks tumbled at the open Friday on growing fears about the Ukraine war as it emerged that a fire had broken out at Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant after it was hit by Russian shelling. The Hang Seng Index sank 2.62 percent, or 588.21 points, to 21,879.13. The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.61 percent, or 21.13 points, to 3459.98, while the Shenzhen Composite Index on China’s second exchange shed 0.70 percent, or 15.95 points, to 2,278.13. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 2.39 percent or 636.45 points at 25,940.82, while the broader Topix index was down 1.92 percent or 36.08 points at 1,845.72.