Sensex, Nifty tumble over 1% mirroring weak global markets amid U.S. Fed’s hawkish tone

Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty faced heavy drubbing on December 15, falling over 1% each, in tandem with weak global markets following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike and its hawkish stance.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 878.88 points or 1.40% to settle at 61,799.03. During the day, it tumbled 962.3 points or 1.53% to 61,715.61.

The broader NSE Nifty plummeted 245.40 points or 1.32% to end at 18,414.90.

From the Sensex pack, Tech Mahindra, Titan, Infosys, HDFC, ITC, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, and State Bank of India were the major laggards.

NTPC and Sun Pharma were the only winners.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended lower.

Equity exchanges in Europe were trading in the red in mid-session deals. The U.S. markets had ended in the negative territory on Wednesday.

The U.S. Fed on Wednesday increased interest rates by 50 basis points on expected lines and signalled more hikes ahead to fight inflation. The US central bank raised the interest rate to 4.25-4.50% to the highest level in 15 years.

“The Fed has startled the market by maintaining its hawkish tone, as investors were expecting a softer approach after the release of better-than-expected inflation numbers.

“IT stocks led to pessimism in the domestic market as recession fears grew in the global economies following the Fed’s comments. The market now awaits the BoE (Bank of England) and ECB (European Central Bank) decisions, which are likely to follow a half-point hike,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

International oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.77% to $82.06 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Wednesday as they bought shares worth ₹372.16 crore, according to exchange data.