Equity indices fall nearly 4% amid global sell-off

Mumbai, Feb 26 The Indian stock market witnessed a bloodbath on Friday with the benchmark indices falling nearly 4 per cent.

The BSE Sensex ended over 1,900 points lower, while the Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange plunged nearly 570 points.

The frenzy in the Indian equities followed a global sell-off after a massive jump in the 10-year bond yields in the US.

Gaurav Garg, Head of Research at CapitalVia Global Research said: "Global signals today are extremely negative against the backdrop of a massive jump in 10-year bond yields in the US. We can see a downtrend and it will be negative for the market."

"Equity markets opened gap down following spike in global bond yields and extended its weakness further as the session progressed. Panic in global bond markets led to sharp rise in yields which spooked investors amid fears of interest rate cycle reversal," said Hemang Jani, Head of Equity Strategy, Broking & Distribution, Motilal Oswal Financial Servcies.

He said that investors have thus turned to pharma stocks amidst this market crash which is down just 0.4 per cent.

"This sector has been in consolidation mode so far 2021YTD as it witnessed profit booking post sharp rally in CY20. It has also got boost from second PLI scheme being approved for the sector. The market correction might continue for some time till inflation fears ease down," Jani added.

Sensex closed at 49,099.99, lower by 1,939.32 points or 3.80 per cent from its previous close of 51,039.31.

It had opened 50,256.71 and touched an intra-day high of 50,400.31 and a low of 48,890.48 points.

Nifty settled at 14,529.15, lower by 568.20 points or 3.76 per cent from its previous close.

All the stocks on the Sensex ended in the red, led by ONGC, Mahindra & Mahindra and Axis Bank.