The Indian stock markets witnessed a sharp sell-off on Wednesday, with the benchmark Sensex crashing nearly 900 points to close at 58,237. The NSE Nifty settled at 17,154, down 255 points.
The losses were led by heavy selling in banking and IT stocks. Banking stocks such as State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were the top losers, while IT stocks such as TCS and Infosys saw sharp losses.
The sell-off was triggered by concerns over rising US bond yields, which have been increasing since the beginning of the year, and the recent rise in inflation in India.
Investors were also concerned about the impact of the second wave of Covid-19 infections in India. The country reported 1.34 lakh new cases on Tuesday, the highest single-day tally since the pandemic began.
Meanwhile, Asian markets also witnessed a sharp sell-off, with the Shanghai Composite index falling 3.2%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropping 2.7%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 index falling 1.7%.
