Closing Bell: Worst fall in six months, Sensex sinks by 1158 points, Nifty ends down by 1.9%

Indian markets suffered their worst single-day loss in the last six months.

Domestic benchmark indices fell sharply on Thursday, October 28 posting their worst single-day performance since April 12, 2021. The below-than-anticipated September quarter corporate earnings, continuous selling of Indian equities by foreign institutional investors amid heightened volatility due to monthly expiry of October future and option contracts impacted the investors' sentiment. During today's trading session, the Sensex fell as much as 1,366 points and the Nifty 50 index was down below its important 17,800 level, falling as much as 411 points.

At the closing bell on Thursday, the Sensex was down 1,158.63 points or 1.89% at 59,984.70, and the Nifty was down 353.70 points or 1.94% at 17,857.30. On the advance-decline of shares, around 887 shares have advanced, 2313 shares declined, and 116 shares are unchanged.

The top Nifty losers of the day were Adani Ports, ITC, ONGC, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Top gainers included IndusInd Bank, L&T, UltraTech Cement, Asian Paints and Shree Cements.

All sectors ended in the red today, with the Metal index plummeting most around 3.5% followed by Nifty Bank and Realty which were down by 3%. Other contributors to the market decline were Pharma, Media and Financial service.

Data from National Securities Depository Limited showed that foreign portfolio investors have so far this month sold shares worth Rs 9,295.78 crore in Indian markets.

In today's bloodbath, market heavyweight's such as ICICI Bank, Coal India, Axis Bank, Cipla, Tata Motors and HDFC Bank were each down between 3-4%, while SBI, Titan, NTPC, Hindalco, Tech Mahindra, JSW Steel, Eicher Motor, Wipro, Tata Steel, Power Grid, and HCL Tech were down between 2-3% at the closing bell.